Ball Metal Beverage Container Corp. lost $3 million in state tax incentives after failing to hire the 220 workers it promised to bring to Concord's Grounds development site.

The N.C. Economic Investment Committee voted Tuesday, Aug. 11, to terminate Ball's Job Development Investment Grant, a performance-based deal awarded in 2021 that would have reimbursed the Colorado-based company up to $3,084,000 over 12 years, the Charlotte Observer reported.

Ball had pledged to invest $383.8 million and fill 220 positions at an 800,000-square-foot aluminum can plant on the former Philip Morris property at 2321 Concord Parkway South. The jobs were to pay an average of $70,555 a year, well above Cabarrus County's average wage of $41,255 at the time of the announcement.

The grant's terms required Ball to complete its investment and hire all 220 employees by the end of 2024. Under the performance rules, if the company fell below 90% of its job target, fewer than 198 workers, it would forfeit that year's payment. Ball missed the deadline. The state terminated the grant entirely.

The decision is a setback for a project local leaders once called the largest economic development deal in Cabarrus County history. Red Bull, Rauch North America and Ball broke ground on the beverage campus after years of delays. At the Sept. 9, 2025, groundbreaking, Cabarrus County Economic Development Corp. interim executive director Brian Hiatt called it "a project that brings great jobs and good investment to the county."

The broader campus, now valued at $1.7 billion according to the Charlotte Business Journal, is still moving forward. Operations are expected to begin by 2028, with the full complex projected to produce up to 3 billion cans annually by 2031.

Local incentives still in question

The state JDIG is separate from local incentives. In 2021, the City of Concord and Cabarrus County offered a combined $54 million in performance-based property tax grants to Ball, Red Bull and Rauch over seven years, according to Carolina Public Press reporting at the time. Ball's share was projected at more than $18.7 million.

Those local grants are also performance-based, paid only after the recipient meets investment and hiring goals and pays its property taxes in full. Ball Corp. has not commented publicly on the termination or its current plans for the Concord site.

Whether Ball's $18.7 million in local property tax grants will face a similar termination has not been publicly addressed by city or county officials.