New Glarus to Expand
Careys win support from town to move ahead with major expansion
An agreement has been reached between the village of New Glarus and New Glarus Brewing Company that will allow the well-known craft brewer to stay in its name sake town..
The New Glarus village board unanimously approved a development agreement for the $19 million brewery expansion after several weeks of tense negotiations with brewery owners Dan and Deb Carey that came to a head when the brewery threatened to pull up stakes and build on an alternative site.
The village agreed to provide an economic development incentive of $2 million toward infrastructure costs of the new facility through tax incremental financing.
In exchange, the village will receive property tax revenue from the plant, which is guaranteed to have an assessed value of at least $8 million, as well as benefit from retaining the popular attraction and contributor to the village’s economy.
The proposed 75,000 square-foot expansion is expected to provide an estimated 60 jobs as well as more than triple production of the brewery’s popular lines of beer like Spotted Cow, Uff-da, Fat Squirrel and Yokel. The additional space will also allow headbrewer Dan Carey room to experiment in the old facility.
The Careys hope to complete the project by the end of 2007.
