$2M brewery coming to Cape Charles
Cape Charles will see its first brewery come to town in 2017.
The $2 million dollar project is the brainchild of the Marshall family, many of whom live in town and know a thing or two about business.
Deborah Marshall and her son, Chris, started Delisheries in 1997 on Mason Avenue making gourmet dry cookie mix that found success in the niche of the fundraising market. The highly successful company was sold to Clabber Girl Corp. in 2003.
The family, home brewing enthusiasts, had been kicking around the idea of going into business again for about a year before the search began for a piece of property to accommodate a production brewery on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The search was broad but Mark Marshall said the hope was to find something in Cape Charles, again.
“It’s got an ambiance, a renaissance if you will,” said Marshall.
Finally, the perfect location became available on Stone Road. The most recent iteration of the property was as Cape Charles Collision & Towing but most local residents remember the location as the site of Reliable Building Supplies.
At first blush, the property looked to be in rough shape but upon further inspection the Marshalls discovered the fantastic bones of the building and the property became more attractive as the vision of Cape Charles Brewing Co. sharpened. The family has contracted with a Virginia Beach-based company called Spacemakers to tackle the design and renovation.
“The craft beer business has really exploded in Virginia,” said Mark Marshall. “While Virginia is for lovers, it is also for craft beer lovers.”
The vision of Cape Charles Brewing Co. is to produce high-quality beer that cuts across a wide swath of the craft beer market which means producing interesting, innovative, flavorful beer, said Marshall. The brewery will aim to have anywhere from 15 to 20 beers on tap at a time. Charles Noll, the head brewer hired out of Colorado, boasts over 20 years of brewing experience in addition to a number of award-winning brew recipes.
Speaking at a Cape Charles Town Council meeting on Feb. 16, Marshall said that the 15-barrel production facility will have the capacity to brew as many as 10,000 barrels of beer per year for distribution up and down the coastal corridor of the United States while providing as many as 13 to 15 full-time job in the process.
“We want it to be a destination. We want for people to come over and enjoy the Eastern Shore and the Cape Charles community,” said Marshall. “I think it serves a need.”
Cape Charles Brewing Co. will encompass an area for production but also a brewpub featuring gourmet pub food made with locally-sourced ingredients and libations as well as a special events and music venue.
The Marshalls have aspirations to open doors in summer 2017 but are cautiously optimistic and intend to let the customers and customer-demand define the hours of operation during peak and off-seasons.
During the Feb. 16 Cape Charles Town Council meeting, many spoke in support of the new endeavor.
“The direct and indirect potential of this project is immense,” said Kerry Allison, executive director for the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission, during the public comment portion of the meeting. Allison voiced her excitement of a craft beer trail connecting Chincoteague's new Black Narrows Brewing Company at one end of the Shore and the Cape Charles Brewing Company at the other.
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“As a private citizen, I’m also tickled to death,” she added.
Kris Tucker, former director of economic and community development in Northampton County, spoke of the economic impacts and the potential recognition the town would receive based on distribution.
“It will have Cape Charles’ name on every label up and down the East Coast and possibly further,” said Tucker.
Additionally, a letter of support from the Northampton County Chamber was read into record. The letter, signed by board president Nathan Higgins, outlined the brewery’s future ability to cater to the booming wedding and event industry and provide a destination for the Shore’s daytrippers.
Mark Marshall addressed the mayor and town council regarding the water and sewer hookups for the property and appealed to have the “tapping” fee, a connection and facility fee required by the town for these resources, to be waived.
“We did not build into our budget - we didn’t build anything in, frankly, for a tapping or connection fee,” Mark Marshall.
According to Brent Manuel, the brewery would fall within the town tourism zone. The designation, in accordance with Section 58.1-3851 of the Code of Virginia, allows for the locality to grant tax incentives such as reduced permit or user fees and reduction of gross tax receipts for up to twenty years and provide certain regulatory flexibility such as special zoning for the district or permit process.
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“I think a 50 percent reduction would be warranted and if you spread the rest over five years we’d come to a more comfortable number,” said Manuel during the meeting.
“I don’t want five years. I want more,” said Sullivan. “We get hit all the time for not being business-friendly.”
Whether a ten-year payment plan setup by the council was allowable was unclear amongst officials during the meeting.
According to Larry DiRe, town planner, the zoning ordinance allows for a credit of up to 50 percent of the facility and connection fees paid to the town over a period of five years, maximum. Any additional extension of a payment plan is at the discretion of the council at after a formal request is filed.
The total cost for the connection charges was $65,977.50. The town voted during the meeting to allow the $32,988.75 tapping fee, a 50 percent reduction of the initial calculation, to be spread over five years with the intention of investigating whether it would be possible to extend this time frame. The town will rebate half of the payment under the tourism zone ordinance.