Rapidly outgrowing its original facility, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery has announced plans to construct a $28 million production and packaging campus alongside Virginia’s Tuckahoe Creek.
Located 13 miles from its home in Richmond, the new 60,000 sq. ft. brewery will feature a 60-barrel brewhouse and enough initial capacity to brew 40,000 barrels annually, enabling the company to grow in Virginia and beyond. Hardywood promises a list of other amenities on the grounds of the completed campus as well, including a beer garden and taproom, agricultural fields, a food truck plaza, bocce courts, an amphitheater, and walking paths.
The brewery campus, pictured below in early renderings, will be built in phases, with the brewery, packaging, and beer garden components scheduled to be up and running by the spring of 2017, the company said.
“Our vision has always been to provide an exceptional work environment for our team members, sufficient scale to keep pace with demand and competitive forces, and a truly unique visitor experience,” said Eric McKay, Hardywood president and co-founder, in a news release. “We’re thrilled to be able to accomplish all of that with this new facility.”
Hardywood said it expects to create 56 new jobs at the new location and is reportedly eligible for $56,000 in state job training grants for those it hires. The project is being financed by Union Bank & Trust. Public money is coming into play, as well: more than $1 million in grants from the state — $250,000 from the Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund; $400,000 from the Virginia Investment Partnership Grant; and $500,000 from the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund — along with $1 million over ten years in “matching support” from Goochland County, where the property will be built.
Speaking in West Creek on Monday, Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who approved grants from the state agencies, said he was “thrilled to help” the company.
“Craft beer is an integral part of my plan to build a new Virginia economy, and Virginia is quickly becoming the most significant player in the craft beverage industry on the East Coast,” he said. “Investments like this create jobs, tourism opportunities, and markets for Virginia’s farmers.”
Gov. McAuliffe had also been a vocal advocate of bringing Stone Brewing to the state when the San Diego-based brewery was searching for its own secondary brewing facility. As Brewbound reported last October, Stone, which is building a facility in Richmond, received $5 million from the abovementioned Opportunity Fund and Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, and totaled $30 million in grants from the city and state.
Since opening in 2011, Hardywood said it has averaged 100 percent year-over-year growth throughout its existence and is this year projecting sales of 15,000 barrels as it nears capacity at its facility in Richmond. Hardywood’s Richmond facility will remain open and be utilized primarily as a taproom and events space when its new brewery is completed, the company said.
