FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Georgia school bus maker Blue Bird is betting big on its home state again, with plans to put an estimated $300 million into a new factory in Peach County that is expected to bring 375 new jobs over three years, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday.
The company will not be building from scratch. It plans to take over a site at 401 Wanderlodge Way in Fort Valley that once turned out diesel-powered motorhomes and rework it into a plant covering about 1 million square feet.
That plant is slated to build Type C school buses, the conventional truck-chassis buses most Georgia families picture when they think of a ride to school. Blue Bird intends to offer them with diesel, gasoline, propane and electric drivetrains.
Crews are due to begin converting the building early in 2027, during the first quarter. Hiring will cover manufacturing, operations and technician positions, and the company is pointing applicants to the careers section of its website.
Fort Valley sits roughly 100 miles south of downtown Atlanta in Middle Georgia, where Blue Bird has built buses for close to a century. The company, ranked among the largest bus manufacturers in the country, already supports more than 1,900 workers across Georgia.
In the governor’s announcement, Kemp framed the deal as a long-time partner adapting to shifting markets without leaving the state, and he congratulated Fort Valley and Peach County. Blue Bird President and CEO John Wyskiel described the new site as a way for the company to reinvest in the Middle Georgia community that builds its buses.
State recruiters from the Georgia Department of Economic Development handled the project, which drew competition from other locations, with help from the local development authority in Peach County and from Georgia Quick Start, the state program that trains new workers for employers.
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