Coca-Cola United corporate headquarters

The Coca-Cola United corporate headquarters is a planned $338 million corporate campus for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United under development on the 106-acre former site of Stockham Valves & Fittings in Birmingham's Kingston neighborhood.

The company acquired the property in 2013 for future expansion. It filed a voluntary clean-up plan with the Alabama Brownfield Program in 2023, and on-site work began in early 2024. At that time, no specific new project was announced. It was presumed that the Alabama Department of Transportation would be requested to reconfigure the Tallapoosa Street exit from I-59/20 as part of any major development on the site.

In May 2024 the company applied for public incentives in support of a $338 million "corporate campus", which would include a landmark headquarters building with facilities for bottling, warehousing, distribution, corporate sales, and customer support, as well as separate administrative spaces for its Central Region and North Alabama Division offices, and its Classic Food and Vending division.

The City of Birmingham agreed to provide infrastructure improvements to the site, including an access road and water connections, using funds from the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program and an Industrial Access Road and Bridge Grant. The Jefferson County Commission approved another $2 million in remediation incentives to prepare the site.

The most prominent building is to be a 150,000 square-foot multi-level office building facing I-20/59. A rendering shows it clad in reflective glass with a large red script "Coca-Cola" logo extending above the roof line and the brand's trademark "ribbon" shape made of vertical white LED strips stretching across the entire façade.

Behind the office complex stretches a 300,000 square-foot bottling plant, warehouse and distribution center, equipped with the "Vertique" automated case picking system manufactured by System Logistics of Arden, North Carolina.

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on June 13, 2024.

References

• Rebman, Stephanie (December 8, 2023) "Former Stockham Valve site slated for cleanup to make way for company expansion." Birmingham Business Journal
• Garrison, Greg (March 19, 2024) "Why did Coca-Cola Bottling clear 105 acres next to Interstate 20/59?" AL.com
• Garrison, Greg (May 14, 2024) "Coca-Cola plans $338 million Birmingham headquarters you can see ‘from the sky’." AL.com
• O'Leary, A. J. & Stephanie Rebman (May 15, 2024) "City incentives approved for $330M manufacturing project, county request up next." Birmingham Business Journal
• Garrison, Greg (May 23, 2024) "Here’s the first look at the $330 million Coca-Cola Bottling campus: A gateway to Birmingham." AL.com
• Watson, Nathan (June 13, 2024) "Coca-Cola UNITED breaks ground on NEW $330M Birmingham facility." Bham Now