Beverage bottler and distributor starts work on $250 million facility

Construction has started on Coca-Cola Beverages Florida’s new 800,000-square-foot distribution and sales center in Tampa.

The company held a ceremonial groundbreaking June 16, which featured the usual list of company and local government officials and dignitaries. What those who gathered came for was the official start of construction of a massive facility that, when complete, will sit on a 156 acres of land and bring 800 jobs to the region.

With a price tag of $250 million, the new center, at U.S. Highway 301 and Causeway Blvd., will include automated order fulfillment capabilities, sales and distribution operations, fleet, and storage facilities. Construction is expected to take two to three years.

Troy Taylor, the chair and CEO of Coke Florida, as the company is known, says as big as the new facility will be, it is only taking up about 25% of the property, leaving the rest for future growth. “We’re going to build out more things here that will bring additional economic development activity, additional jobs to the site and to the community,” Taylor says in a statement. 

Coke Florida, founded in 2015, distributes in 47 counties and employs about 4,600 employees statewide, according to its website. In addition to Tampa, its other markets include Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando. It bottles and distributes more than 600 products for The Coca-Cola Co. and others.

In all, its reach tops 20 million consumers.

Last year, Coke Florida bought a 400,000-square-foot Polk County warehouse at the Central Florida Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven.