Starbucks opens its first 3D-printed store, a Brownsville drive-thru with an estimated $1.2 million build cost

BROWNSVILLE, Texas, May 2, 2025 — Starbucks opened its first 3D-printed store in the U.S., a 1,400-square-foot drive-thru and pickup shop on Boca Chica Boulevard. Here's what happened, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 2, 2025)

Outcome: Store opened May 2, 2025, the city says; Starbucks' fourth in Brownsville. (City of Brownsville, May 2, 2025; USA Today, Apr. 30, 2025)
Cost: Estimated cost of $1,198,000 on the state's accessibility project filing, for a new 3D-printed shell plus interior tenant work. (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TABS2024006040)
Schedule: A five-month construction schedule, according to the structural engineer. (Walls & Ceilings (Case Engineering))

What opened

The City of Brownsville announced the store as the nation's first 3D-printed Starbucks. It's a drive-thru and pickup location of 1,400 square feet, and the city listed hours of 4:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekends. Store manager Ricky Arreola was quoted in the city's announcement. (City of Brownsville, May 2, 2025)

USA Today reported that the store has no indoor seating and offers drive-thru and mobile pickup service only, and that it's the chain's fourth shop in a city of more than 190,000 people at the southern tip of Texas. Manuel Chacon, the city's director of communications and marketing, gave USA Today the May 2 opening date, and Starbucks confirmed it and referred USA Today to videos of the project it had posted on social media. (USA Today, Apr. 30, 2025)

Who built it and how

Starbucks said the store was built by PERI 3D Construction, a German company, USA Today reported. PERI says on its website that it uses a construction printer from COBOD, USA Today reported; COBOD says its BOD2 printer lays concrete through a steel nozzle. (USA Today, Apr. 30, 2025)

Case Engineering, which did the structural and MEP engineering, says the architect was NewGround. Its design used perimeter concrete columns cantilevered from the foundations to resist high winds near the Gulf Coast, and those columns also support the printed concrete skin against sideways wind loads. The roof uses wood trusses. (Walls & Ceilings (Case Engineering))

Case project manager Devin Klein said the printed walls can't be drilled afterward, "as it would compromise the structure, so all of our MEP design work had to be finalized upfront." (Walls & Ceilings (Case Engineering))

What the state record shows

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's accessibility record lists the project as "new concrete 3D printed commercial building shell" with interior work for a pickup-only Starbucks with a drive-thru. It gives an estimated cost of $1,198,000, private funding, 1,400 square feet, a start date of March 16, 2023, and a completion date of Sept. 24, 2024. Its status reads "Inspection Complete." (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TABS2024006040)

What went wrong

No changes allowed. Every conduit and pipe had to be designed into the print program up front, because the walls can't be drilled afterward; the engineers called that "a bit of a challenge." (Walls & Ceilings (Case Engineering))
Two addresses. The city's May 2 ribbon-cutting post gives 2941 Boca Chica Blvd.; the state filing and the engineer give 2491. (City of Brownsville, May 2, 2025; Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TABS2024006040; Walls & Ceilings (Case Engineering))
Dates don't line up. The state record's 2024 completion date is months before the May 2025 opening. (Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TABS2024006040)
No company figures. Starbucks confirmed the opening date to USA Today and pointed it to videos it had posted on social media; we found no cost or performance figures from the company itself. (USA Today, Apr. 30, 2025)
What we don't know yet: whether $1.2 million is more or less than a conventional Starbucks drive-thru of the same size; Starbucks didn't say.

Our follow-up question for Starbucks

How does the Brownsville store's cost and build time compare with a conventional drive-thru of the same size, and will Starbucks print more?

Sources

City of Brownsville, “Brownsville makes history with nation's first 3D-printed Starbucks,” May 2, 2025. brownsvilletx.gov
USA Today (Melina Khan), “Starbucks opens 1st 3D printed store in Texas,” Apr. 30, 2025. usatoday.com
Walls & Ceilings, “Case Engineering Provides MEP, Structural Design on World's First 3-D Concrete Printed Starbucks,” Oct. 11, 2025. wconline.com
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TABS project TABS2024006040, read Oct. 29, 2026. tdlr.texas.gov

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder