West University Place area: Major Development Brewing on Old Coke Site

Coca-Cola property on Bissonnet, near Kirby. Photo Credit: Ralph Bivins of Ev Konut Proje.

In Houston, Houston developers Frank Lui and Ronny Hecht have joined forces to acquire the 14-acre Coca-Cola facility on Bissonnet St., which is considered one of the most potent infill tracts in the Inner Loop.

The site is just outside the city limits of the affluent West University Place. And it’s a mile from Greenway Plaza. Between Kirby Drive and Buffalo Speedway, the site is bordered by Westpark on the north and Bissonnet on the south. Specifically, it’s at the northwest corner of Bissonnet and Wakeforest.

Lui is the owner of Lovett Homes and is the one of the most prolific townhome developers in Texas. Lui also controls Lovett Commercial and is redeveloping the old downtown Post Office into multi-use.

Hecht has been involved in multifamily development and has frequently partnered with developer Avi Ron in a number of ventures.

The Coca Cola deal closed months ago, but no development plan has been reported.

CBRE’s Brendan Lynch and Darin Gosda marketed the property, representing land owner Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant opened there in 1950. It was a suburban site then. Houston was a smaller place and the city’s population was 596,163.

The site is becoming available because the Coke bottler has purchased a large tract in Hines’ Pinto Business Park in north Houston for a new $250 million to build a 1 million- SF Coke plant there. That meant the old Coca-Cola plant on Bissonnet Street became expendable after 70 years of service.