Coca-Cola's first new California plant in decades rises in Rancho Cucamonga

The Inland Empire gets read as a place things pass through, not a place things get made. Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling is building against that read. The company broke ground in February on a project that demolishes its original 125,000-square-foot Rancho Cucamonga facility, built in 1984, and rebuilds the site as a 620,000-square-foot operation with full production capability, according to the company's announcement.

The distinction matters for anyone tracking what kind of work the IE economy supports. The old building was distribution — product arrives, product ships. The replacement adds bottling and packaging on site, which is manufacturing payroll, not pick-and-pack. Reyes says the rebuild makes Rancho Cucamonga its fourth California production site, alongside Downey, Los Angeles, and San Leandro.

That a beverage maker would add ground-up production capacity in the IE cuts against the assumption that the corridor's industrial future is more warehouse, not more factory. Construction is expected to run through 2027.