Coca-Cola Florida zeroes in on massive new $300 million, 1.4M-square-foot development in Tampa suburb
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 20, 2020

Coca-Cola Florida appears to be zeroing in on a massive new facility in Brandon, with plans to build a 1.4-million-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility near the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

Hillsborough County Commissioners on March 10 approved a rezoning request for 158 acres that would make way for mixed-use development that would total 1.8 million square feet. The vast majority of that — 1.4 million square feet — is now approved for manufacturing, production, distribution and fleet uses. The breakdown of uses includes a 800,000-square-foot warehouse and a 600,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

Commissioners also improved an economic development incentive package that reduces the amount of mobility fees for the project by up to $4.8 million.

The property is also zoned for an additional 425,000 square feet of commercial uses including retail, hotel and office space. A development of that size has the potential to create thousands of construction jobs and would generate significant new tax revenue for Hillsborough County.

The property spans from the expressway to Causeway Boulevard along U.S. Highway 301 South. Colonnade Crosstown LLC, which is linked to Coke Florida in state records, began assembling the acreage in early 2019, according to county property records.

Jacob Cremer, a land-use attorney with Sterns Weaver Miller in Tampa who represents Coke Florida, told the Business Journal on Friday that the project will move forward "as soon as possible."

"Coca-Cola has committed to come on board under certain circumstances," Joe Carroll, a director at Colonnade Crosstown, said at a January zoning hearing. "Therefore, the rezoning application presents an opportunity to retain 800 jobs in Hillsborough County and add nearly 200 jobs."

A Coke Florida representative was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Real estate sources, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the deal, said Coke is planning to consolidate several facilities on the Brandon land. Its offices and a production facility that produce 21 million cases of Coke products every year are in Sabal Park, roughly six miles from the proposed facility.

The entrances and exits for the distribution and manufacturing will be off of Causeway Boulevard.

Coke Florida is one of the largest privately owned companies in Tampa Bay, with revenue of $1.3 billion in 2019. It sells, manufactures and distributes 600 Coke products in 47 Florida counties, including the major metro areas of Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Tampa.