{"id":1004460265,"date":"2020-07-02T01:37:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T09:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004460265"},"modified":"2021-05-15T08:48:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T16:48:34","slug":"hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Hershey Co. to Invest $135M in Virginia Plant Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Image courtesy of The Hershey Co.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The Hershey Co. is expanding its second-largest U.S. plant in Virginia once again. The chocolate manufacturing company is pumping $135 million into its Stuarts Draft facility in Augusta County, Va., following a previous expansion from 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The latest expansion will increase the Virginia plant by 90,000 square feet and create 110 jobs. The upgrades will bring new manufacturing lines and employee facilities including offices, lockers and break rooms, Hershey spokesperson Jeff Beckman told Commercial Property Executive.<\/em> The 2019 expansion saw a $104 million investment from Hershey that also created 65 new jobs and expanded the space by 111,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

Jason Reiman, Hershey\u2019s senior vice president & chief supply chain officer, said in prepared remarks that the Virginia facility has been around for 38 years. The plant focuses on products with peanuts and Reese\u2019s brand products but also manufactures Mounds, Almond Joy, Whatchamacallits and other chocolate products, Beckman told CPE<\/em>. The facility employs more than 1,000 people and is Hershey\u2019s second-largest plant in the U.S. among six others in Oregon, Tennessee, Illinois and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Brian Ball, Virginia\u2019s secretary of commerce and trade, said in prepared remarks that Hershey has been an important factor in the surrounding Shenandoah Valley\u2019s reputation as a top location for food and beverage manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Support from state government<\/h2>\n

As the project benefits both Hershey and the surrounding area, the expansion has received strong governmental support. To secure the major project, Virginia\u2019s Economic Development Partnership worked alongside Augusta County. Virginia\u2019s Jobs Investment Program will also be offering funding and services to support the initiative as the plant will be creating new jobs.<\/p>\n

As for financial assistance, Governor Ralph Northam approved a $1.1 million grant from the Commonwealth\u2019s Opportunity Fund that will help Augusta County with the expansion and also approved a $500,000 performance-based grant from the Virginia Investment Performance program that encourages capital investment by existing Virginia companies. Northam also passed an executive order on climate change in the state that has led to companies like Dominion Energy Virginia<\/a> posting increases of more than 300 percent in solar and wind energy generation compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The investment will increase production capacity and add 110 jobs to the Augusta County facility that mostly produces Reese\u2019s-branded products. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":883,"featured_media":1004460277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21782,21748,11,21742],"tags":[49657],"class_list":["post-1004460265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-development","category-industrial","category-midatlantic","category-latest","tag-the-hershey-company"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHershey Co. to Invest $135M in Virginia Plant Expansion - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hershey Co. to Invest $135M in Virginia Plant Expansion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The investment will increase production capacity and add 110 jobs to the Augusta County facility that mostly produces Reese\u2019s-branded products.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-02T09:37:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-15T16:48:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2020\/07\/Hershey.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jackson Chen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jackson Chen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8d4607aca26f3427c49fe54ddc82ddf1\"},\"headline\":\"Hershey Co. to Invest $135M in Virginia Plant Expansion\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-02T09:37:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-15T16:48:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/46\\\/2020\\\/07\\\/Hershey.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Hershey Company\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Development\",\"Industrial\",\"Mid-Atlantic\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/hershey-co-to-invest-135m-in-virginia-plant-expansion\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hershey Co. to Invest $135M in Virginia Plant Expansion - 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