Surrounded by a color guard and with a band playing, Coca-Cola Co. representatives welcomed the public Thursday morning to the renovated Coca-Cola Enterprises Sales and Distribution facility at 4415 85th Ave. West, in the Southwest Rock Island Industrial Business Park.

The distribution facility, which serves portions of Illinois and Iowa, had been located at 7819 42nd St. West, Rock Island. All 100 employees were transferred to the new facility.

Kevin Morris, Coca-Cola's vice president of public affairs and communications, said the company has been renovating the existing warehouse for almost a year. He said about $3 million was invested in changes to the 30-year-old vacant warehouse.

The building is owned by Tom Miller and had been used for more than a decade by Pinnacle-Stanrick Corp., a storage provider and distributor of printed material for Deere & Co. Coca-Cola is leasing the property.

The larger site gives the company the ability to grow, with about five adjacent acres that could be used for expansion.

"Coca-Cola has done such an outstanding job," said Rock Island Mayor Dennis Pauley, adding that it was important that the company stayed in the city.

Rock Island County Board Chairman Jim Bohnsack and Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, both offered to help in any way, when and if the company does decide to expand.

"Expansion means more jobs," Bohnsack said. "Anything we can do to help you expand, Rock Island County is always there to help."

The 110,000-square-foot building sits on 10.5 acres.

"We have confidence in our business and we are pleased to have this world-class facility open and operational in Rock Island to serve the Quad-Cities area," said Glen Walter, vice president and general manager, Coca-Cola Enterprises Bottling Co. Central Business Unit.

"We take great pride in our history in this area and the economic partnership that we have with the city and state."

Regarding possible expansion, Walter said the company is always looking to grow.

"Every time we renovate or construct, we plan on growing," he said. "We want to see our business grow."

He said the actual layout of the warehouse will make it a "seamless transition" whenever building expansions take place.