[New Belgium Asheville Artist Rendering]
(Asheville, NC) – New Belgium Brewing Company announced on Wednesday that the construction timeline for its Asheville facility has been delayed by eight months due to being able to meet demand with increased capacity in Fort Collins.
The company has faced some additional challenges with the project as well due to its nature as a brownfield site and being located in an urban environment. Just one example is establishing safe truck routes that don’t impede normal traffic around the facility. Management discusses that in this video.
You can view the original Asheville timeline here (PDF) which suggests that the cumulative delay is even longer than the stated eight months. Construction was originally set to begin at the end of 2012 with beer being brewed by January 2015.
The new timeline means that beer production could come as late as the start of 2016.
As always, these are moving targets. Official PR below…
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Press Release:
Deconstruction Nearly Complete, New Belgium Brewing Adjusts Asheville Construction Timeline
Site development and building construction to begin in 2014
New Belgium Brewing announced today that it has nearly completed deconstruction at the site of its future Asheville facility and will continue site development and building construction later in 2014. The adjusted construction timeline is the result of increased capacity coming online in Fort Collins this year. With 70,000 barrels of capacity recently added, the Fort Collins brewery can produce up to 920,000 barrels, which will take New Belgium through 2015 sales projections.
“We’re in a good situation as far as capacity in Fort Collins right now,” said New Belgium Spokesman, Bryan Simpson. “With deconstruction in Asheville wrapping up, our plan is to operate at maximum efficiency in Fort Collins and bring Asheville online at just the right moment. Along with our construction partners and the City of Asheville, we look forward to using the additional time to balance the many elements of such a dynamic project.”
Current estimates are for about an 8-month adjustment to the construction timeline. Once underway, the construction phase will take place over 22 months as originally projected. The scope and physical attributes of the project remain the same. In the meantime, New Belgium will continue to work with the community to develop bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the area. All recovered materials slated for repurposing have been down-streamed to contractors or put into storage for future use. Once construction is complete, the brewery is expected to create more than 150 jobs in the area.
ABOUT NEW BELGIUM BREWING
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses. The 100% employee owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews eight year round beers; Ranger IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Ale, Blue Paddle Pilsener, Belgo IPA, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel. Learn more at www.newbelgium.com.