Prime Coca-Cola Plant Site on Bissonnet St. Listed for Sale After 68 Years
Coca-Cola property on Bissonnet. Photo Credit: Ralph Bivins
HOUSTON – The Coca-Cola facility on Bissonnet Street, one of the most valuable infill sites inside Houston’s Inner Loop, has been listed for sale.
CBRE brokers Brendan Lynch and Darin Gosda are representing the landowner, Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, a division of Arca Continental, in marketing the 15.57-acre Bissonnet property.
The Coca-Cola bottling plant opened at this location in 1950, when Houston was much smaller and the city’s population was about 596,163. At the time it was a suburban site; today it sits amid dense, established neighborhoods and key employment centers.
The site lies just outside the city limits of West University Place and is about a mile from Greenway Plaza. It sits between Kirby Drive and Buffalo Speedway, bordered by Westpark Drive to the north and Bissonnet Street to the south. Specifically, the property occupies the northwest corner of Bissonnet and Wakeforest.
“The strong interest we’ve already seen is no surprise, given the property’s setting among desirable neighborhoods and major employment hubs,” said CBRE senior vice president Darin Gosda. “This is an area that feels quintessentially American, with oak-lined boulevards and nearby parks where families play little league. That combination is rare in a city the size of Houston, making this an exceptional redevelopment opportunity.”
The Coca-Cola site consists of two parcels: a 14-acre tract at 2800 Bissonnet that extends north to Westpark with significant frontage on Wakeforest, plus a 1.6-acre parcel on the east side of Wakeforest near Westpark used for parking. The smaller parcel offers distinct restaurant potential because it sits adjacent to Goode Co. Seafood. Other restaurants and bars have clustered west of Kirby near the property, including Bacco Wine and Spirits on Dincans Street.
Photo of the Coca-Cola facility and surrounding area, looking east toward downtown.
With mature oaks lining Bissonnet, the property carries considerable value. The Harris County Appraisal District lists the combined value of both parcels at $56,620,835. But the site’s future use is expected to change dramatically from industrial to a higher-value development mix.
Market expectations point to a mixed-use redevelopment incorporating multifamily housing, retail, restaurants and potentially a hotel along the Westpark frontage.
“Given the strong demographics and convenient access to major corridors such as US 59, the West Loop and the Westpark Tollway, this is a prominent address for a top-tier mixed-use project,” said CBRE senior vice president Brendan Lynch. “You can reach key Houston districts within a ten-minute drive, including Upper Kirby, River Oaks, the Galleria and the Texas Medical Center.”
The site is being made available because the Coca-Cola bottler is relocating to a large new facility in Hines’ Pinto Business Park in north Houston. The company plans to invest roughly $250 million to build a one-million-square-foot plant there.
As a result, the longtime Coca-Cola plant on Bissonnet Street becomes surplus after about 70 years of operation.
Developers already active nearby include Hanover Co. and Martin Fein Interests, each with multifamily projects within a quarter-mile of the Coca-Cola site.
The property represents an increasingly rare industrial parcel inside this part of Houston; few such sites remain amid the dense urban fabric, aside from large operations like the Houston Chronicle’s facility.
Note: The Coca-Cola bottler is also marketing five additional industrial properties totaling 396,000 square feet across Houston, Conroe and Channelview, with assistance from CBRE’s Glynn Mireles.
