Leesburg Regional Medical Center, the largest employer with 1,740 workers in this Lake County city of 16,000 residents, bought the plant for an undisclosed price. The hospital will house its plant operations, maintenance, security and construction departments in the premises.

But the outside of the building will look the way it was when it first opened in 1930. Most of the renovations are expected to be completed by Dec. 1.

Coca Cola Co.'s first Leesburg bottling plant dates to 1908 when it started up in another now-demolished structure near Downtown. The bottling operations at the East Main Street building ceased in 1967. The property served as Coke's distribution center until the 1980s when the company built a larger center on County Road 468.