T
he cola rivalry between Coke and Pepsi is set to intensify in Colorado as both companies plan to build large bottling plants outside Denver International Airport. Swire Coca-Cola, a Utah-based manufacturer and distributor of Coke products, is planning a 570,000-square-foot bottling plant at the northeast corner of Tower Road and Peña Boulevard within the airport’s Second Creek Campus. Meanwhile, PepsiCo, based in New York State, is developing a 1.2 million-square-foot Pepsi bottling plant three miles south of the Coke plant, southeast of East 72nd Avenue and Argonne Street in Denver. The new Coke and Pepsi manufacturing operations represent significant bottling and warehouse expansions at the Denver airport, approximately 25 miles northeast of Downtown.
In April, the Denver City Council approved a nearly $271 million, 75-year ground lease agreement with Swire Infrastructure for 97 acres of land, allowing Swire Coca-Cola to construct a plastic and aluminum bottling plant. The agreement grants Swire the right of first refusal for an additional 30 acres and three eight-year lease extension options. The company expects to invest between $350 million and $500 million in the project, and construction of the manufacturing plant and warehouse is slated to begin early next year.
Swire Coca-Cola is responsible for distributing Coca-Cola products in 13 states, including Colorado, Arizona, California, Kansas, Wyoming, and New Mexico. It is unclear whether the new Swire plant will replace its existing USA Production Plant at East 40th Avenue and York Street in north Denver.
PepsiCo has already broken ground on its massive bottling plant near the airport, which is expected to triple the capacity of its current manufacturing facility north of Downtown Denver. The plant will be powered by the company’s largest solar panel field. In 2022, PepsiCo was approved to build the new plant on 152 acres of land, with $1 million in incentives from the City of Denver. The company purchased the land in July 2022 for $49.16 million, or $323,421 per acre.
