Niagara Bottling Expands in Kansas City

California-based beverage manufacturer Niagara Bottling is expanding in the Kansas City, Mo., area with the purchase of a new 634,000-square-foot building near the Kansas City International Airport. The family-owned company will invest approximately $156 million in the property at 11400 N. Airworld Drive for use as a manufacturing facility. The seller of the newly constructed building, known as Congress Logistics Center 634, was VanTrust Real Estate.

Congress Logistics Center. Image courtesy of JLL and VanTrust Real Estate

Niagara Bottling will initially create nearly 100 jobs at the new facility when it opens in March 2022. It will be used to produce new beverage products and serve customers in the Midwest, according to Executive Vice President Brian Hess.

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This is the company’s second facility in the Kansas City area. In 2000, Niagara opened a 420,000-square-foot manufacturing plant at the intersection of U.S. Highway 71 and Missouri Highway 150, which employs 90 people. The company operates bottling facilities throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and works with large beverage brands, retailers, grocers, club and convenience stores around the U.S.

Niagara cited the region’s central location, availability of skilled talent and strong community relationships as key drivers of its decision to locate a second facility in Kansas City. An active, centrally located industrial real estate market, Kansas City has grown into a $226 billion food and beverage industry with more than 670 companies located in the area and a workforce of more than 25,000 employed in food and beverage manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.

Tim Cowden, president & CEO of Kansas City Area Development Council, said in a prepared statement that Niagara’s selection of Kansas City reinforces the region’s position as a growing hub for food and beverage production in the U.S. The metro benefits from its proximity to agricultural markets and advanced logistics infrastructure.

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KCADC helped attract Niagara company to Kansas City. In the last two years, the region has attracted food and beverage companies pledging to create more than 1,700 jobs, invest more than $330 million and occupy more than 3.5 million square feet, according to KC SmartPort, a nonprofit economic development organization affiliated with KCADC that works to attract freight-based companies to the Kansas City region.

VanTrust Developments

JLL was selected by VanTrust Real Estate, a national real estate developer headquartered in Kansas City, as the exclusive leasing partner for the property. JLL Executive Vice President Phil Algrim led the marketing efforts for the speculative project. He said the shell was complete by June 1.

“Other tenants were interested in the building. However, we engaged with Niagara and came to terms on a purchase,” Algrim told Commercial Property Executive.

In April, VanTrust broke ground on Forney Distribution Center, a 621,874-square-foot speculative industrial property in the East Dallas suburb of Forney, Texas, that is set for completion in May 2022. The submarket directly connects to U.S. Highway 80, Interstate 35 and Interstate 20 within the DFW Metroplex.

VanTrust sold a 715,000-square-foot industrial building in Las Vegas to an entity affiliated with DWS Group and RREEF Property Trust for $88.5 million in September. The distribution center, completed in May 2019, is fully leased to beauty product retailer Sephora.