Last Cain's Coffee HQ in Oklahoma City, sold by Farmer Brothers, to be redeveloped in 2025

Cain's Coffee Co.'s last grounds have been filtered through several owners through the years, and next year the 8.5 acres and big coffee-roasting plant that was its last headquarters in Oklahoma City, where Cain's was founded in 1919, will be deposited onto the industrial property market.

Tulsa-based TruCore Investments paid Farmer Brothers Coffee $5.8 million for the land and 142,115-square-foot warehouse and distribution center that Cain's Coffee Co. built at 13131 Broadway Extension just north of Kilpatrick Turnpike. It will remain as Texas-based Farmer Brothers' Oklahoma City branch until 2025.

It's a Class B industrial property, which means it's older, with visible signs of age, but still of good quality. It's in a prime location for redevelopment, said Zach Harris, TruCore Investments partner and managing director. TruCore plans to upgrade the exterior and interior lighting, among other improvements, he said.

Farmer Brothers Coffee is looking to relocate in Oklahoma City

Harris said the property had an inviting aroma for TruCore.

“This acquisition supports our highly targeted investment strategy in Class B industrial,” Harris said. “Oklahoma City is an attractive, business-friendly market with a central national location, steady job growth, and low energy costs, making the property desirable for a broad range of tenants into the future.”

That will come after a year-long leaseback to Farmers Brothers negotiated by brokers Rusty Smith and Allan Meadors at Cushman & Wakefield-Commercial Oklahoma.

In the meantime, Farmer Brothers will continue to operate as its looks for a new location in the OKC area that "better fits our current business needs," spokesman Brandi Wessel said. "Oklahoma City remains a key location for our Revive equipment services and direct store delivery network."

Farmer Brothers Coffee likely to be the last roaster to own Cain's Coffee Co.'s last plant

The Cain family's connections to the 60-year-old site may be tenuous, and feelings may have faded since the company changed hands so long ago, but emotions do linger, said William Curtis Cain, 62, a grandson of founder William Morgan Cain. He goes by Curtis. He is a senior vice president and trust officer at Arvest Bank.

Cain's Coffee Co. sold to Nestle Beverage Co. in 1961, but continued to operate independently with Jack Durland Sr., the husband of June Cain, the founder's eldest daughter, Curtis Cain said.

Then Cain's sold to Chock full o' Nuts Corp. in 1992, then to Sara Lee Corp. in 2002, then to Farmer Brothers in 2009. The plant on Broadway Extension, built in 1964, went with each sale. Farmer Brothers will almost surely be the last coffee roaster to own it.

Cain's Coffee Co. founder remembered as a pioneer of Oklahoma City's 'progressive coffee culture'

"I think it is a bit sad that the last icon of Cain’s existence will be gone and ultimately forgotten," Curtis Cain said. "William Morgan Cain was an interesting man and extremely industrious. He was the epitome of a self-made man."

Clarity Coffee, which has shops in downtown OKC and in the Wheeler District, once lauded William Morgan Cain in a blog post by Paul Zimmerman as a pioneer of Oklahoma City's "progressive coffee culture."

"I suppose everyone in the family had a sense of pride in his accomplishments, even though the family no longer had an interest in the company," the founder's grandson said.

RELATED: PRAISING CAIN'S: Historic Cain's Coffee building to be renovated after recent sale

Cain's Coffee Co. had several corporate homes and roasting plants in OKC

Cain's Coffee Co.'s first home was at 204 W 2, on the Rock Island railroad tracks, in the 1920s. That street is now Park Avenue. Cain's imported raw coffee beans through New Orleans, then roasted, packaged and shipped products to retail distributors.

By 1925, the growing company needed more space, so it built a new warehouse at 512 W 2 (Park Avenue), also on the Rock Island tracks.

"Through hard work and conservative growth, Cain's Coffee Company survived and even prospered during the 1930s. By 1941, with the demands of an intensifying world war, and with new retail outlets in Tulsa, William Cain needed a larger plant for his operations; he found it at 1 W. 12th Street on the Santa Fe tracks," according to the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the building at what is now 1 NW 12.

Still known as the Cain's Building, 1 NW 12 is a five-story, 42,240-square-foot office building, recently renovated by Midwest City's HGL Construction, with space for lease.

Cain grandson saddened to see family's and coffee company's name fade

Curtis Cain, who lives in Edmond, was a toddler when Cain's Coffee Co. built the plant on Broadway Extension. He only recently saw its interior for the first time.

"I must’ve driven by the plant on Broadway 1,000 times or more in my lifetime," he said, "but I’ve never been in that building until about two weeks ago. Isn’t that strange? I simply wandered in until I found someone who was willing to show me around the plant.

"There was sadness in seeing such a large building where so little was happening. Vacant offices that had not been updated in decades. The name on the building had borne the name of Cain’s Coffee Co. for a very long time, but had been removed years ago and replaced with Farmer Brothers. The trucks that deliver product around the city also no longer bear the name of Cain’s Coffee."

He came across a small coffee roaster dating to the 1860s.

"While I can’t confirm, I’ll wager this was the roaster that 'Mr. Cain' used in the beginning," Curtis Cain said.

He added, "William Morgan Cain was a pioneer of sorts. He was a contemporary of the likes of Stanton L. Young who were so instrumental in OKC’s early growth. He deserves to be remembered."

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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Tulsa investors buy Farmer Brothers plant, former Cain's Coffee in OKC