AUGUSTA — A city official is confident the PepsiCo warehouse off Leighton Road won’t be vacant for long after it is shut down by the company, though the loss to the community in general will be felt.

PepsiCo announced last week it plans to close its beverage warehouses in Augusta and Portland. A company spokeswoman said Monday that about 50 employees work at each of the warehouses.

Matt Nazar, development director for the city, said warehouse space in Augusta, especially in the north Augusta business park area where the 80 Anthony Ave. building is, has typically not stayed vacant long.

He said the location and lack of warehouse space in the city are key.

“Warehouses tend to get filled back up fairly quickly here,” he said. “There is not a whole lot of warehouse space available.”

He said the city is concerned, however, about the effect on the community in general.

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“Certainly the loss of any business is one the city is concerned about and is obviously a loss to the residents of the city,” he said. “If there is anything we can do to add additional jobs or bring some of those back, we’ll attempt to do that.”

PepsiCo officials wouldn’t say whether the Augusta warehouse or the Portland warehouse would be sold.

Gina Anderson, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo., said Monday that a majority of employees at each warehouse will be offered positions elsewhere with the company in Maine, but would not provide a specific number of employees.

Customers now served from the Augusta warehouse will be served from other nearby warehouses, according to Anderson. PepsiCo also operates a beverage warehouse in Auburn, which will remain open.

Anderson, in a statement from PepsiCo, said work “will move to other facilities within our system” and that most “employees will be offered other positions within the company in the area, and we’re committed to providing support to any remaining affected employees by offering outplacement services.”

Anderson would only say the Augusta warehouse would close in the next several months. Portland TV station WCSH reported the warehouses will close Oct. 26, citing anonymous warehouse employees.

The company reported in a July 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is enacting a productivity plan for the year. The plan includes closing certain manufacturing factories and reworking its distribution system.

 


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