Coca-Cola is a household name…

an international brand, and an American cultural icon. Now its name is linked with ours, and the news of our connection is making headlines in media across the state: in South Florida, Ocala, Orlando, Tampa, and beyond. SRS is restoring the historic 1939 Coca-Cola bottling plant that prompted economic recovery for Fort Lauderdale during the Depression. In its heyday, the plant operated day and night, seven days a week, and workers bottled 900 cases a day.

SRS Principal Merrill Romanik, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, who is lead architect on the project, said “We are preserving and restoring the architectural elements of this building, which is owned by Broward County. We’ve commissioned three new large picture windows and 36 steel wrought iron framed windows are being restored. A new barrel tile mansard roof replaces the previous one, but now meets current hurricane codes. We’ve returned the building to its former sunny luster by repainting the walls their past signature colors of off-white with golden yellow accents.”

Romanik said the firm relied on primary blueprints from the bottling plant and by visiting and documenting its fully restored sister facility in Ocala. Both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information, visit the Coca-Cola project page.