Prime Coca-Cola site inside Loop for sale

The parcel will likely support mixed-use urban development

The Coca-Cola bottling plant near West University Place is up for sale, presenting a rare opportunity to transform a large industrial property inside Loop 610.

Coca-Cola began operating from the 15.57-acre facility at 2800 Bissonnet in 1950. Since then, the area has evolved into prime residential and commercial real estate with easy access to U.S. 59, the West Loop and Westpark Tollway.

“This is a unique opportunity in that there are very few large, comparable parcels available for redevelopment in the area with such exceptional demographics, access to major thoroughfares, services and amenities,” Darin Gosda of real estate investment firm CBRE said in an email, “and

being zoned to very reputable schools.”

CBRE was selected to sell six of Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages’ Houston-area locations. The Dallas-based franchisee previously announced plans to consolidate operations and develop a 1 million-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility in Pinto Business Park in north Houston.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages said the proposed bottling plant would be Coca-Cola's first new plant built in the U.S. in a decade. The $250 million project is expected to break ground in the third quarter and be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

CBRE is marketing the Bissonnet location with a “Call for Offers.” It’s not priced and doesn’t have a specified use, though it will likely support mixed-use urban development, said Gosda, CBRE senior vice president.

In a separate news release, Gosda said the properties already had generated “significant interest” that he called “not a surprise given that it is situated among enviable neighborhoods and employment centers.”

The facilities marketed by CBRE will continue operating as Coca-Cola locations until the new plant is up and running, with the soda giant planning to lease back the Bissonnet property until the first quarter of 2020.

Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages is a subsidiary of Monterrey, Mexico-based Arca Continental, the second-largest Latin American bottler known for producing Topo Chico water and Coca-Cola products in Mexico. Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages makes, markets and distributes Coca-Cola brands throughout Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas.