Philadelphia investor pays $39 million for Tampa bottling facility

TAMPA — The Refresco Beverages facility in Tampa has been sold.

The 9.59-acre property at 5210 S. 16th Ave. brought $39.25 million from EQT Exeter.

This is the second major purchase the Philadelphia real estate investment company has made locally in a little more than a month. The first was in January when it paid $61.75 million for six laundry facilities it bought from a Miami-based laundry service. Two of those facilities were on the Gulf Coast — a 43,700-square-foot facility at 3307 Hanson St. in Fort Myers it paid $5.7 million for and a 34,164-square-foot facility at 6011 31st St. E. in Bradenton it paid $4.6 million for.

The Refresco Beverages property is 364,084 square feet and includes front loading docking bays and 50 parking spots for trailers and is fully leased. Refresco, a North American subsidiary of the Netherlands-based soft drink bottler and distributor, signed a 10-year lease worth $18 million last year.

The property was previously owned by RealOp Investments and formerly housed a distribution center for Southern Glazer Wine & Spirits.

Greenville, S.C.-based RealOp bought the Tampa industrial project July 2019 for $16.5 million, according to Hillsborough County property records. Southern Glazer relocated its operations to Lakeland a few years ago.

Cushman & Wakefield represent RealOp and announced the sale in a statement.