A nearly empty Fairland warehouse along I-74 is about to get a serious workout. Prime Beverage Group is moving into Shelby County and plans to turn the Velocity 74 Trade Center into a Midwest production and packaging hub, company and county officials confirmed this week. The Charlotte-area co-packer aims to outfit the plant for mixing, filling, and canning ready-to-drink beverages, a move local leaders say will land a major industrial user on the corridor and trim delivery times for regional brands.
Site and scale
According to the Shelby County Board of Zoning Appeals staff report, Prime Beverage Group plans to lease the entire parcel at 9201 N Frontage Road and convert the existing warehouse into beverage production and packaging space. The county packet lists the site at about 53.64 acres and notes the building has been largely vacant since it was completed. The filing also states the company requested a use variance and development-standards variances because the proposed operations qualify as heavier industrial processing than the property’s I1 zoning typically allows.
What the plant will do
Prime Beverage and county officials say the Shelby County facility will be set up with modern mixing, filling, and packaging lines that can handle both alcoholic and non-alcoholic ready-to-drink products. “This expansion marks an exciting next chapter for Prime Beverage Group,” Shannon Fowler, the company’s Business Commercialization Manager, told the Indiana Chamber. The Chamber report notes the new operation is intended to complement the firm’s North Carolina footprint and give brand partners quicker access to Midwest markets.
Developer and site features
Browning Real Estate Partners, the developer behind Velocity 74, describes Building 1 as a modern, cross-docked industrial facility built to support large-scale production, warehousing, and distribution. Browning says the property features high-bay clearances and truck access designed for heavy-duty logistics, and county officials point to recent frontage-road upgrades intended to accommodate larger truck traffic. Prime Beverage has indicated it will work with local suppliers and utilities to extend the water and gas service needed for beverage processing.
How this fits Prime's growth
Prime Beverage has been in expansion mode. The company recently signed long-term space in the Charlotte market and previously built out production capacity with design-build partner Gray. Gray’s project page for Prime’s Kannapolis operation notes the company set out to create new production capacity and jobs there, and coverage of its June Kannapolis lease framed that move as part of the same growth push. The Shelby County deal continues a pattern of Prime stepping into large, turnkey industrial buildings to scale up its co-packing services.
Approvals and next steps
The county packet shows Prime Beverage filed for a use variance along with several development-standards variances, with staff recommending conditions that would limit outdoor storage and tie the operation to the submitted site plan. The Shelby County Board of Zoning Appeals notes that utilities must be extended and that emissions and recycling plans will have to comply with local and state regulations before production can begin. The BZA record makes clear the project can move forward only under the conditions laid out in the variance approval and any permits required by state agencies.
Prime Beverage and Browning did not provide a firm startup date in their announcement, the Indiana Chamber reports, though both say they will coordinate with county officials as they build out the space and hire locally. For Shelby County, landing a full-building occupant at Velocity 74 promises to put a massive industrial asset back to work and widen the area’s manufacturing footprint.
