It took 18 months, but Brew Hub has finally selected a site for its second “partner” brewing facility.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Brew Hub’s development partner, Green Street, has a “letter of intent to acquire a 7-acre property at the southwest corner of Chesterfield Airport Road and Spirit of St. Louis Boulevard.”
The company is awaiting final approval from a city planning commission and a decision could come later this month.
Located about 30 minutes from downtown Saint Louis, the 71,000 sq. ft. Chesterfield-based location will initially be capable of producing about 75,000 barrels of beer annually.
Brew Hub, which was founded by former Anheuser-Busch executive Tim Schoen, is backed by Yucaipa Companies, a private equity firm started by billionaire Ron Burkle, and is led by a team of notable beer industry experts. Launched in 2012, the company is planning to spend $100 million to build a network of five contract brewing facilities throughout the country.
The company first announced its foray into the Saint Louis area in 2014 and had originally planned to break ground on the new facility that year, but it had difficulty finalizing construction plans and was forced to make redesigns along the way, Schoen told Brewbound in December.
That put the project over its original $20 million budget and delayed the buildout. The company is now planning to spend about $25 million on “Brew Hub 2.0,” Schoen told Brewbound.
Brew Hub had also planned to spend about $20 million to build its original facility in Lakeland, Fla., where it produces beer on behalf of brands like Cigar City Brewing, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and M.I.A Brewing, among others, but that project also came in around $25 million, Schoen said.
“Comparatively speaking, Lakeland was a little bit of ready, shoot, aim,” Schoen said. “With Chesterfield, we had a lot more time to look at the overall layout and the engineering.”
Brew Hub still anticipates opening three more locations and has its sights on the Northeast, Texas and the west coast.
“Strategically, we look at high-density areas like the Northeast or California where there is so much activity and market share is much higher — and we have to be smart,” Schoen said in December. “Do we build a greenfield brewery or do we acquire or merge with someone already there?”
The company is currently negotiating on three potential locations in the Northeast and on the west coast, Schoen told Brewbound.
The new Chesterfield location, meanwhile, will include an outdoor beer garden and employ upwards of 75 people. It is slated to open in 2017.