For more than 50 years, beer has been brewed at the Molson Coors plant in Kitsilano.

It's the biggest brewery in Western Canada.

But that's about to change now that the company has revealed that the three-hectare site on the south side of the Burrard Bridge has been sold to an undisclosed buyer.

The company announced last December that it planned to cease making beer.

With the sale of the property, the bottling plant is that much closer to closing.

Molson Coors says it plans to develop a new brewery within three to five years somewhere else in the province.

Its Vancouver site is zoned industrial.

Any change in the land use to residential would require city council's approval after a rezoning application and a public hearing.