In the wake of an affiliate's decision to postpone development of a new $150 million plant, the Coca-Cola Co. is renovating its syrup manufacturing facility in South Baltimore and has revived plans to possibly replace the 72-year-old plant.
Coca-Cola USA Inc.'s immediate $3 million investment in its 1215 E. Fort Ave. facility will provide repairs to the roof, floor, smokestack and office space at the plant, officials of the Atlanta-based soft-drink maker said.
But the Coca-Cola syrup arm is also rethinking a long-range plan to construct a modern, $60 million replacement facility to meet increased production demand, officials confirmed. That 250,000-square-foot plant would be more than twice as large as the Fort Avenue facility and produce 35 million gallons of syrup annually.
"We're in the evaluation stage at this point and we're considering a number of alternatives, and one of those alternatives involves building new," said Ben Deutsch, a Coca-Cola USA spokesman.
Coca-Cola USA officials say a prospective site for a new plant has not been selected. Two years ago, when the company first pursued development of a new plant, it chose a Harford County location.
Coca-Cola USA's study comes in the wake of a decision in August by Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. -- a publicly held bottling concern that spun off from Coke three years ago but still packages the bulk of Coke products -- to push back development of a $150 million plant in Howard County because of changes in the bottling industry.
Specifically, the bottler cited the growing popularity of noncarbonated beverages as the key reason for suspending work on the 900,000-square-foot plant, slated for 112 acres in the Hanover section of Howard County.
Noncarbonated fruit drinks and iced teas -- including Coca-Cola's Fruitopia and Minute Maid lines -- require different bottling, packaging and distribution methods, the company said.
Coca-Cola Enterprises officials predict its mid-Atlantic market service center will be postponed for at least another year, although no formal time line has been established, said Katherine Whiting, a spokeswoman for the bottler. Construction of the new plant is expected to take roughly two years.
"We can't afford to base our decision solely on what they're doing at this point," Mr. Deutsch said. "If the CCE facility doesn't materialize in the near future, we need to determine if we need a separate facility. At this point, at least, we don't have a timetable for that decision."
Originally, Coca-Cola Enterprises intended the combined Howard County plant to be operational this month. The Fort Avenue plant's 125 local employees were to be shifted to the new plant.
Coca-Cola USA had originally pursued development of a separate manufacturing plant in April 1992, settling on a 30-acre parcel in Riverside Business Park in Harford County. To secure the land, the company invested $2.5 million in a deposit and initial engineering evaluations.
Nine months later, Coca-Cola forfeited the deposit when its purchase option on the Harford land expired. The lapse occurred because top Coke officials in Atlanta decided to fold the two Baltimore-area operations into a single plant after a feasibility study determined the company would save millions, sources said.