PepsiCo, EIT to Build Two New Plants in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. -- PepsiCo Inc. will invest $140 million to build a manufacturing and distribution plant in southwest Virginia, creating 250 jobs, Gov. Mark Warner announced Thursday.

The company will produce Gatorade Thirst Quencher and Propel Fitness Water at Wythe County's Progress Park.

In a separate announcement, Warner said that EIT Inc., a contract provider of electronic design and manufacturing services, will build a $12 million plant in Danville that will create 120 jobs. ETI, based in Sterling, was founded in 1977 by Del. Joe May, a Leesburg Republican.

The privately owned company selected Danville over a North Carolina site because of the city's commitment to building a high technology economy and because of its central location, May said.

PepsiCo, whose brands include Gatorade, Tropicana, Quaker Oats, Frito-Lay and Pepsi Cola, had 2004 revenues of more than $29 billion and employed 153,000 people -- 2,000 in Virginia.

Chuck Maniscalco, president of Gatorade, said the Wytheville area was selected because it's an important transportation hub to the mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley.

Warner approved a $750,000 grant from the Governor's Opportunity Fund to assist Wythe County with the project. A $1.5 million grant from the Virginia Investment Partnership program, a performance-based incentive available to qualifying existing Virginia firms, was also used to close the deal.

The company is eligible to receive rail access funding through the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and road access funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation.