Costco buying B.R. property

Costco Wholesale Corp., the largest warehouse club chain in the United States, has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the former Coca-Cola bottling site on Airline Highway. The company signed a memorandum of agreement with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United Gulf Coast LLC late last month to acquire the 28-acre site, which is adjacent to Celtic Studios. Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate, the listing agent on the property, confirms a purchase agreement has been inked but declines to comment further, citing a confidentiality agreement. The property had been listed for $15 million, but no purchase price was disclosed. Officials with Costco and Coke also decline to comment. Though no details are available on what Costco plans for the property or when a sale might be finalized, the company has just made its first move into the Louisiana market. Plans were recently announced for a 148,000-square-foot store in the Carrollton section of New Orleans. That facility will employ some 200 workers and has a target completion date of 2013. The Airline Highway property under contract in Baton Rouge has been on the market since Coca-Cola relocated to its current bottling facility on Plank Road in January 2009. —Stephanie Riegel