Coca-Cola Co., bottled up for space in New London, will move to Waterford

Site work has begun on a new home for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Southeastern New England in Waterford, which will end its 72-year presence in New London.

The 74,000-square-foot sales and distribution center at 150 Parkway South should be completed by next May, said the New London operation's general manager, Steve Perrelli, in a voice mail.

"We're sad to be leaving New London," Perrelli said. "Really love that building, but we've outgrown it."

Perrelli said the move to Waterford allows the local Coca-Cola operation at 951 Bank St. in New London, with its distinctive logo and rounded brick building, to move into a state-of-the art facility located conveniently off I-95. The New London building, a distribution center that hasn't housed bottling operations since 2003, will be put up for sale, company officials said.

"It is a classic Coca-Cola-designed building," said John Palermo, vice president of operations for the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England, which owns the local Coca-Cola operations. "We haven't been marketing it - it's all been word of mouth."

Coca-Cola Bottling bought the 33 acres of industrially zoned land off a highway access road in Waterford from Herb Chambers of Waterford LLC and Herb Chambers of Waterford II LLC for $2.8 million, according to a purchase-and-sale agreement dated Nov. 12, 2009. The site previously had been part of an abandoned commercial project known as Summit Park, documents stated.

Kobyluck Construction Co. Inc. of Waterford workers were on site Wednesday near the northbound Interstate 95 weigh station with at least seven pieces of machinery to do the initial site work before construction starts. The Stahlman Group Inc. of Concord, N.H., is overseeing the project.

The bottling operation in New London, which distributes to New London and Windham counties in Connecticut as well as Washington, Newport and parts of Kent counties in Rhode Island, dates to 1938, according to the company's Web site. It previously was owned by the Kitchings family, which has been a large benefactor to various foundations and charitable groups in southeastern Connecticut.

Palermo said the new Waterford distribution center will have about the same number of workers as the New London plant.

"A total of 116 employees are anticipated at the proposed facility," according to a traffic study of the Waterford site prepared by David Spear of DLS Traffic Engineering Services.

Spear concluded the expected 35 trucks stationed at the site and 452 daily trips in and out of the new distribution center would have no significant impact on local traffic.

Coca-Cola products will be manufactured in New Hampshire and shipped to the Waterford center to be unloaded, separated and repacked into delivery trucks, according to a description of the project at Town Hall.

The Waterford center also will be used by sales teams and for administrative support operations. In addition, vending machine repairs, light maintenance of tractor-trailers and fueling of trucks by an outside vendor called Diesel Direct will be accomplished on site.

The site will contain 100 parking spaces. A six-foot chain link fence will surround the property.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the project May 24, following an approval by the Conservation Commission in April. The bottling operation has been required to post more than $500,000 in bonds to assure completion of the project's various components.

The Conservation Commission allowed the project to fill nearly 5,000 square feet of wetlands to construct a driveway and to temporarily disturb 6,700 square feet of wetlands to construct a vernal pool of nearly the same size. In addition, more than 6,000 square feet of marshlands will be created next to Jordan Brook, which abuts the site.

"They have started to clear the trees," said Perrelli, the bottling company's general manager. "Every indication is we will be in there by May."

l.howard@theday.com