Coca-Cola Wilmington announced the company will relocate from the current facility on Princess Street to an industrial park in Leland.

“The current facility is operationally inefficient,” said Coca-Cola spokesman Lauren Steele. The Leland deal is not yet complete, though Steele is confident the deal should become finalized before the end of the month.

“We are happy to be moving to a more efficient and bigger facility. We hope to grow our business and expand, that could mean more jobs,” he said. Coca-Cola plans to put a $4 million investment into the 60,000 square foot property in the Leland Industrial Park and hopes to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Steele.

“I was (really) pleased,” said Jim Bradshaw, executive director of the Brunswick County Economic Development Commission. The biggest hurdles faced were infrastructure requirements, but both the county and state transportation departments were helpful, he said.

“We worked well with the North Carolina Department of Transportation,” Bradshaw said. “We were able to use the existing shoulder on U.S. 74/76 as a right turn lane for the Coca-Cola trucks to turn into the facility. That allowed us to keep costs low for the infrastructure thanks to NCDOT.”

The announced deal should increase the tax base for Brunswick County and increase traffic for neighboring retail in Leland. Additionally, Bradshaw looks forward to the increased name recognition for Brunswick County an international brand like Coca-Cola will bring.

On the eastern side of the Cape Fear River, there are many questions as to what will happen with the 5.53-acre Coca-Cola site. The site is currently listed for $5.2 million and represented by Paul Loukas at Cape Fear Commercial Real Estate.

The Princess Street site had a contract put down in 2008 from a group of out-of-town developers, though the deal fell through during the real estate crash. Loukas said he understands that the current climate is not the most conducive for large redevelopment projects, though there are few opportunities to purchase more than five acres with 102,000 square feet of buildings 10 blocks from the river.

The move comes after Coca-Cola has had the property on the real estate for market for more than a decade.