Report: Pepsi bottling is looking for additional space upstate or in Conn.

The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc. has hired The Staubach Company of New York LLC to study its corporate headquarters options in Westchester County and the western section of the state of Connecticut, according to an online report.

Officials with The Pepsi Bottling Group and the Staubach Company refused to divulge the size of the office space requirement the Pepsi Bottling Group is considering.

"We are currently exploring our headquarters facilities options," Kelly McAndrew, a spokesperson for The Pepsi Bottling Group in Somers, told GlobeSt.com. "Our lease will be up at the end of 2002." She added that the company is considering signing a new lease at its current headquarters at One Pepsi Way. The company leases the entire 527,800 SF building, although Pepsi Bottling Group officials say the building is currently, "under-utilized."

According to GlobeSt.com, its other options include leasing space or acquiring an existing property in Westchester County or in the western section of Connecticut, which would include markets such as the Danbury/Newtown area; or engage in a build-to-suit deal in either Westchester or Connecticut. The Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. is the largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages with operations in the US, Canada, Greece, Russia and Spain and employs 38,000 workers worldwide.

The company broke away from former parent company PepsiCo of Purchase in March 1999 when it issued an initial public offering. PepsiCo owns approximately 40% of the shares of The Pepsi Bottling Group and is the largest shareholder in the company. PepsiCo built the One Pepsi Way property 14 years ago. The company executed a sale/leaseback agreement on the property with the Witkoff Group of New York City several years ago, company officials note.

Bob Bundy, a principal of The Staubach Company of New York LLC, said that the brokerage firm is still attempting to identify properties in Westchester and Connecticut that would be considered alternatives to its existing location. He also notes that the firm has engaged in "preliminary" discussions with the State of Connecticut and Westchester County in terms of possible incentives The Pepsi Bottling Group might receive from either party.

Bundy says that Staubach, which has been working on this project since the summer of this year, did explore other markets outside of New York and Connecticut. While relocating outside of this area has not been ruled out entirely, the brokerage firm and the Pepsi Bottling Group are concentrating most of their efforts on assessing alternatives in the Westchester-Connecticut marketplace, he notes.

He adds that those talks have not produced any concrete offers since the Pepsi Bottling Group has not decided as yet where it will move its corporate headquarters, if at all. They also said there is no specific timetable for a decision on is corporate headquarters operations, although McAndrew of the Pepsi Bottling Group says that it plans to study the recommendations made by the Staubach Company "as expeditiously as possible."