Denver's far northeast could be getting a Coca-Cola plant on Denver International Airport (DIA) land. The lease agreement, which Denver's City Council approved Monday, would cover over 4.2 million square feet and last 75 years, with the option to extend the lease for up to 99 years. In exchange, DIA would earn up to $260.7 million in rent.
Swire Coca-Cola, an independently operated Coca-Cola subsidiary that bottles Coca-Cola products, would run the plant. Swire currently employs 700 people between its locations in Cole and Sunnyside. With the new plant at DIA, the company would consolidate operations and grow its staff to 900.
The plant would be a major step in DIA's vision for commercial districts surrounding the airport. It would also localize the rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which itself broke ground in the fall of 2022 on a new bottling plant near the airport. That plant is expected to be Pepsi's largest in the U.S., growing the company's capacity and workforce in the 1.2-million-square-foot location.
While Council approved the lease, the plant has a long way to go until it would be operational.
DIA would contribute $10 million toward infrastructure development necessary to build the plant, which officials expect to cost up to $50 million, and could be used for other future development in the area.
Swire expects to spend somewhere between $350 million and $500 million building the plant. In return, the airport would net $141.5 million in a 75 year lease, and $260.7 million if it is extended to 99 years. Adams County and Denver County would split tax revenue from the plant.
But there's a long way to go until the plant is operational. Swire plans to bring the proposal to its board for a decision toward the end of 2023, with an anticipated groundbreaking in 2025 and opening in 2027 or 2028.
Advocates for the far northeast worry about how the plant would affect neighborhoods that already struggle with infrastructure.
"We're possibly talking about 900-plus full time employees getting on the road trying to get to this site, and they're not all going to go on Peña Boulevard or I-70, they're going to be going through the neighborhoods," said Councilmember Stacie Gilmore at a Council committee hearing. Combined with the new Pepsi plant, Gilmore said the district she represents could see hundreds of additional trucks coming through.
Peña Boulevard itself has been a controversial topic, with the city soliciting input on the future of that road as DIA has grown. Denver already widened part of the highway close to the airport, and is now planning how to handle capacity on the rest of the corridor. City planners say the expansion would decrease pollution by lessening traffic and shortening trips, but some studies show highway expansions lead to more people on the road.
Gilmore said the city needs to factor the plant into Peña Boulevard planning. But beyond the one road, she wants to see Swire commit to community engagement and invest in local infrastructure as the company makes plans for the plant.
Infrastructure has long been a problem in the far northeast, which has struggled with food deserts and a lack of transportation.
"We're not going to do something because it's very profitable for one entity as the airport on the backs of the far northeast residents who have invested greatly," Gilmore said in the committee meeting. "We want to make sure that we're hearing their voices loud and clear, especially around the traffic, climate issues, workforce, the investment in the neighborhood."
During City Council Monday, airport and Swire officials said that a traffic study is underway, and that Swire will host public meetings, form a community advisory committee and meet with registered neighborhood organizations.
"[We are] open to all feedback, suggestions," said Swire Coca-Cola representative Jenifer Freeman during City Council on Monday.
Montbello Organizing Committee CEO Donna Barnett said she worries about the volume of transportation to the plant. She said the current strain on Peña Boulevard worries her. She also has concerns that Coca-Cola's staff might move closer to work, which could put a strain on the region's limited housing stock, raising prices. While Swire has a plan for community engagement with the lease approved, Barnett thinks it should have started earlier.
"It feels like that's a little late, it doesn't really address the concerns that people have right now," she said. "It should have started already."
"We are proud to be a part of the community in Colorado and while no final decisions have been made, we plan to keep the community informed about potential future developments," Freeman said. "We are grateful to the members of the Denver City Council [for their] engagement and service."
As Swire Coca-Cola looks to move to airport land, questions remain about what would happen to Swire's properties in Cole and Sunnyside.
Councilmember Candi CdeBaca, who represents District 9 which includes the current Coca-Cola plant in Cole, said her constituents have expressed the desire for potential affordable housing to be built on the Cole site. An outright land swap would likely be illegal, since the new plant will be on airport land which operates separately, but CdeBaca mentioned the potential for a lease swap.
Before any future use happens, there needs to be remediation at the old site to manage environmental contamination. Swire Coca-Cola Director of Sustainability Michael Bernier said during a Council meeting that the company discovered the "environmental conditions" requiring remediation when the company acquired the property in 2018. "We were not a part of them," he said.
As plans for the new plant move forward, Councilmember Robin Kniech says it's important that the community is able to provide input and vision on the future of the land before any sales go through. She also mentioned the possibility of the city negotiating a right of first refusal with the company to acquire Swire's old properties.
"You should not be open to any offers, you should be open to a collaborative process," she told Swire and DIA staff on Monday, adding that the plant will require future votes from Council to make the new plant a reality. "We have seen other landowners take offers from ... individuals who are not interested in constructive conversation with this city."
