ThisWeek CW 06/02/2015
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/06/29/its-official-brewdog-chooses-canal-winchester.html
The deal that Canal Winchester officials wouldn’t confirm more than two weeks ago became public Monday, June 29, thanks to a filing with the Ohio Tax Credit Authority: The city will be the U.S. headquarters for BrewDog, a Scottish craft-beer brewery.
Canal Winchester Mayor Michael Ebert was elated that his city was confirmed as the company’s new site.
“This truly is an international deal,” Ebert said.
A posting on the company’s website on June 29 said BrewDog will invest $30.4 million in the project, which will include a 100,000-square-foot building that will house its brewery, U.S. headquarters, restaurant and taproom.
Triad Architects of Columbus will design the facility.
The project is expected to bring more than 100 jobs to Canal Winchester.
According to the BrewDog website, the Canal Winchester brewery “will initially serve the U.S. market with potential to export to other countries.
” It will produce more than 85,200 barrels in its first year of production, increasing capacity in years two and three until it reaches 852,000 barrels.”
Economic development partners in the project are Jobs Ohio, Columbus 2020 and the city of Canal Winchester.
A press release from the city said Canal Winchester will give BrewDog a 15-year, 100-percent property tax exemption on the value of the building improvements, an incentive worth an estimated $2.7 million over the 15-year agreement.
Canal Winchester will also waive more than $325,000 in utility capacity and building permit fees.
“Since learning of the potential project a few weeks ago, Canal Winchester residents have become very excited about Brewdog,” Ebert said. “We look forward to working with them and are very happy they chose Canal Winchester as their U.S. Headquarters and their first production facility in the U.S.
“This project is not only a great manufacturing project for our community, but also will prove to be a major draw for tourism that will benefit the entire region.”
BrewDog is based in Ellon, near Aberdeen, Scotland, and has craft-beer bars across Europe.
BrewDog officials considered several sites for its U.S. headquarters, but said they settled on the Columbus area because of how welcome people made them feel.
Columbus 2020 and Jobs Ohio courted BrewDog for six months, according to Kenny McDonald, Columbus 2020 chief economic officer.
“They are a great company. It’s just a really solid business,” McDonald said. “It’s obviously an industry that is doing very well and expanding across the globe.”
James Watt, who founded BrewDog with Martin Dickie, said in an email the company had “big plans for our USA operation.
“We wanted to ensure we had room to expand from the outset,” he said. “With the brewery, restaurant and taproom, we’re going to need a bit of space.
“We’ve been continuously expanding our operation in northeast Scotland as fast as we can build, so for our USA operation, we’re setting up where we have room to grow,” he added.
“The new site will be accessible by rail, road and cycle path too, so it will be really easy to get there.”
Columbus Dispatch reporter JD Malone contributed to this story.