Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs announced that it will locate a new water bottling operation in Kentland, Ind., creating up to 100 new jobs.
The Ontario-based bottler will invest more than $20 million to build and equip a 273,000 square-foot production and distribution center in the town's industrial park, where it will manufacture and fill plastic bottles with water from a nearby spring. The company will also bottle purified water at the site.
"Ice River Springs heard our message that Northwest Indiana is a great place for business with access to key markets and a quality workforce," said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
The Northwest Indiana facility marks the company's third facility in the U.S. In 2006, the company opened a similar facility in Morganton, N.C. and recently announced a second U.S. facility in Claremont, N.H. The company has plans to open additional facilities in Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
"Ice River Springs is very pleased to be building in Indiana. We've enjoyed dealing with the State, County and Town representatives and found Indiana to be very business friendly," said president Jamie Gott. "The entire process from conception to excavation was smooth and expedited. Ice River Springs is expanding into the US to better service our customers. Currently we ship into the Chicago area from Ontario. The Kentland plant location will reduce freight cost, fuel consumption and emissions. We plan to open in the spring and are looking forward to working with the local residents to build our workforce."
Founded in 1995, Ice River Springs has grown to become Canada's largest privately owned water bottling company with operations in Ontario and British Columbia. The company supplies private label bottled water to major retailers in North America.
"The Town of Kentland is very pleased that Ice River Springs made Kentland Indiana their choice in site location for their new water bottling facility," said Dave Smart, Kentland Town Council president. "We believe they will be a great Corporate Citizen and we are excited at the opportunity to be working with them. The team efforts of our board, the Newton County Economic Development Commission, Kentland Bank and the State of Indiana proved to be successful in winning this economic development project. This is a wonderful example of what can happen when business, state, county and local government can work together."
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Ice River Springs up to $410,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $36,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The state will also provide the Town of Kentland with a grant of up to $47,000 to assist in off-site infrastructure improvements needed for the project. The Town of Kentland will provide Ice River Springs with property tax abatement. The Newton County Economic Development Commission assisted in the effort.
About the Author
