New Belgium Brewing Co. announced today that it will open a new $175 million brewery in Asheville N.C. over the next seven years.
The decision follows a nearly yearlong search for a second brewery location to expand its production along the East Coast.
The new brewery is projected to start production of beer in the first quarter of 2015 and be completed by 2020. The brewery reportedly will produce 400,000 barrels a year. It will create an additional 154 jobs to the Fort Collins-based company.
That’s compared to the Fort Collins brewery, which produces about 661,000 barrels of beer annually. The company employs 300 workers at its current plant and 425 throughout the country.
The project was made possible in part by a $1,000,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. The state grant will be based on the company creating 130 jobs and making $115 million investment over the five years of the project, according to the North Carolina Governor’s office.