Keurig Green Mountain Inc., Waterbury, Vt., closed on the purchase of a 585,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Douglasville, Ga., which will be responsible for producing pods for the company’s new Keurig Cold platform, set to launch in fiscal-year 2015. Keurig Cold is being developed in collaboration with The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta. The companies announced a long-term, global, strategic partnership in February to collaborate on the development and introduction of The Coca-Cola Co.'s global brand portfolio for use in the Keurig Cold beverage system and will cooperate to bring the system to consumers around the world.

Keurig plans to invest $337 million in the facility over the next five years, and anticipates the plant to create 550 new jobs, it says.

"Keurig Cold is an exciting new multi-brand platform for our company, and ensuring beverage pod production capacity and efficiency are key to its success," said Brian Kelley, Keurig's president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "The Douglas County region offers a diverse and skilled employee base as well as many geographic and economic benefits, making it a great location for our new facility. We are grateful for the support we have received from local and state representatives to help bring us to the region, and we look forward to becoming an active part of the community."

In addition to the new Douglasville location, Keurig maintains eight production and distribution facilities in Castroville, Calif.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Windsor, Va.; Essex, Waterbury, and Williston, Vt.; Sumner, Wash.; and Montreal. The company also conducts research and development activities in facilities in Waterbury, Vt., as well as in Burlington, Reading, and Wakefield, Mass. The Douglasville site will complement the company's new Early Production Center in Williston, Vt., which will serve as a hub for Keurig Cold start-up and early production work.

The Douglas County Development Authority and Annie Baxter, director of the logistics, energy, agribusiness and food team at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, assisted the company with this project. Keurig was represented throughout the search process by Lake Forest, Ill.-based Kupperman Location Solutions. Keurig also is working with Cincinnati-based Hixson Inc. on engineering for the new site.