State Grant Helps Brewery Move Into Old Steam
Steam plant dates from 1895
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A major expansion is on tap at Railhouse Brewery, thanks to a $200,000 state grant that will enable the microbrewery to move from downtown Aberdeen to the historic steam plant building in Pinehurst.
The grant from the N.C. Department of Commerce’s 2011 Main Street Solutions Fund will help Railhouse renovate the 6,800-square-foot brick building that was constructed in 1895, the year the Tufts family opened Pinehurst Resort.
Village of Pinehurst officials hope the $1.1 million project serves as a catalyst to future development in the 19-acre area south of downtown known as NewCore.
“It fits perfectly with the vision of both our Comprehensive Long-Range Plan and the NewCore Master Plan,” Assistant Village Manager Natalie Dean said Tuesday. “It’s also a great reuse of a historic building. We are very, very excited to have this type of private investment going into NewCore.”
Mike Ratkowski, co-owner of Railhouse, said he and business partner Brian Evitts have secured public and private financing to fund the majority of the $1.1 million project.
“It’s a big risk, but we’re on the cusp, so it’s time to either go big or go home,” Ratkowski said. “We’re taking a leap of faith because our business is growing, and this space is too small. The old steam plant has so much character that complements our business and has the space we need to expand our operations.”
Dean said the village will spend $252,000 to begin construction of a road that will eventually connect Magnolia Road with Dundee Road and serve as the east-west connector in NewCore. The money will also pay for off-street angled parking, brick sidewalks, street lighting and landscaping.
“The road will initially end in a cul de sac,” she said. “Essentially, the road will follow the line of the old railroad bed. Back in the day, the trains used to pull up right in front of the steam plant to drop the coal to power the plant.”
Renovation Begins in Fall
The plant is included as a contributing structure in the village’s National Historic Landmark designation. As a result, the planned improvements to the building are required to meet the U.S. secretary of the interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and the village’s local historic district standards.
Renovations are scheduled to begin this fall and be completed next spring.
“We look forward to working with Pinehurst to transform a vacant historic structure into something the community can be proud of,” Ratkowski said. “We liked being in Aberdeen. We would like to extend a big thank-you to the town of Aberdeen and our Aberdeen customers.
“We always want our customers to feel like they’re a part of the brewery, no matter how much we grow.”
Ratkowski said the new location will enable Railhouse to add food service, double beer production and add a bottling line. The building will contain a viewing platform overlooking the brewery and an outdoor patio, among other amenities.
“We’re going to have food that pairs well with beer, and we’re going to incorporate our beer in a lot of our recipes,” he said. “It will be a brew pub, but we’ll also have steaks and ribs.”
Ratkowski said the grant was the tipping point for moving forward with the project.
“This one makes it possible,” he said. “We’re seeking two other grants that will make it nicer if we get them. But even if we don’t, we’re still moving to Pinehurst.
“We’re thrilled to be the first to go into NewCore. What a great building to start with because it will go from being an eyesore to serving as a catalyst for positive growth.”
Dean said the amount of the grant was based on the number of new full-time positions — at $25,000 per position — added as a result of the project.
The Main Street Solutions Fund’s purpose is to provide economic development planning assistance and coordinated grant support to designated micropolitans located in Tier 2 and 3 counties and to active North Carolina Main Street communities. The village is considered a micropolitan by the state.
The grant program is intended to strengthen the local economy and its role as a regional growth and employment hub. That is accomplished by leveraging the state’s resources for small business development, spurring private investment, and providing economic development planning assistance and coordinated grant support.
“This project leverages state, local and private investment in a way that should serve as a model partnership to facilitate local economic development,” Dean said.
‘Provides an Anchor’
The expansion announcement comes on the heels of the naming of Railhouse as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Moore County Chamber of Commerce.
“Mike and Brian took a chance on downtown Aberdeen, and they’re leaving behind a great legacy,” said Patrick Coughlin, the Chamber’s president and CEO. “While I’m happy for Pinehurst and I think it’s great for NewCore, I’m sad for Aberdeen because they’re losing a great business and great businessmen.
“It’s somewhat of a bittersweet situation from the perspective of Railhouse Brewery’s contribution to the renaissance of downtown Aberdeen.”
Still, Coughlin believes that Ratkowski and Evitts have “opened the door” for other entrepreneurs to follow in their footsteps.
“Without a doubt, you’ve got vibrant businesses surrounding their current location, so it creates a great opportunity for a new business to go into the space Railhouse is vacating,” Coughlin said. “At the same time, I think it’s preferable to reuse assets that are already there when you look at new development.
“So I think the steam plant presents a great opportunity because it’s really kind of a cool building that has been sitting there unoccupied for some time. I think Railhouse is going to provide an anchor in NewCore that other developers can hitch their boats to.”
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Comments
Arestorer 1 year, 2 months ago
Why are the previous post being taken down ??? Censorship by the new Editor, or what ???
phstresident 1 year, 2 months ago
Made an inquiry and have a little information on this. The grant of $200k will go towards renovations to the building. The town is just the applicant for grant purposes and all costs for the building renovations will be paid by the Railhouse Brewery. Village funds being spent are for the road extension and onstreet parking, sidewalks and street lights I believe. Apparently the grant has to be applied for by a municipality even though the town isn't spending the money to fix up the building. Should be a nice addition to the village and the concept drawing of the old steam plant looks very nice! Good luck to the business owners on their venture!
ncsnafu1 1 year, 2 months ago
I believe that the Pilot owes its online readership an explanation as to why it chose to take down and apparently delete their prior article on this topic including the 40 posts against the article. As I remember, even the brewery owner asked in his post that the various posts against the brewery stay up. Apparently, the Pilot decided for the brewery owner, that the posts weren't worth the information they were providing him in advance of the public hearings he faces or the forum it provided him to respond to the various concerns raised.
DoubleHeroides 1 year, 2 months ago
@ ncsnafu1 I was one of the last posters to that column and I’d like to clarify that not all of the posts were “against” the brewery or the project and that most of the questions being asked were in regards to a misunderstanding related to the funding source of the project. Furthermore there shouldn’t be any public hearings related to the issue. The money does not belong to the Village. It came from the Department of Commerce. The only thing the Village is paying for is the upgrades to the road and infrastructure which is already in their master plan to pay for and do anyway so the only thing that they could have a public hearing on that would have any bearing even on the periphery of the brewery is related to the road and streetlights.
AFCHIEF 1 year, 2 months ago
Bring on the brewery!!!!!!!!!!!!
DoubleHeroides 1 year, 2 months ago
Amen AFCHIEF
ncsnafu1 1 year, 2 months ago
@DoubleHeroides: I used "against" in the context of being against the article, not against the concept. As for the required public hearings, at least one hearing will be held by council wrt the major special use permit required. The second hearing will be held by the Historic Commission to determine if the project is in character with the Historic District. Neither hearing has anthing to do with project funding but rather are requirements found in the Pinehurst Development Ordinance (PDO) found on the village web site. As for the village financial involvement in the project, the argument that the $277K being spent for the parking lot, etc. was always an intended expense doesn't hold water for one simply reason. When New Core was being planned it was assumed that the master project developer would fund the necessary streets, sidewalks, etc. and not Pinehurst. Say what you want; however, anyway you look at it the $277K the village is putting into the project is 1) an economic incentive and 2) necessary, as without it, the brewery doesn't have the necessary parking space the PDO would have required.
Tom_Embrey 1 year, 2 months ago
Previous comments were not taken down. They are a part of the original web story. You can reade them here.
PaleRider 1 year, 2 months ago
I'll say it again! What a GREAT PLACE!!!
ncsnafu1 1 year, 2 months ago
@wdd101st: The $272K the village is putting into the brewery project is coming from 2 sources. First, the village recently did a budget transfer of $25K from the Fund Balance to cover the engineering work done by an outside firm for the street/parking lot design. The remaining $252K is planned to be in the '12-'13 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
As for the lot across the street from the brewery it was to have been "The Traditions" townhouse development. The developer is having financial problems which is one of the reasons that there is no construction.
ncsnafu1 1 year, 2 months ago
@Tom_Embrey: Come on Tom, just admit that the paper took the original story & posts down. There are too many of us that got the same "page unavailable" message. Saying that there was a broken file link is far more believeable than the excuse you gave. I will give the paper credit for seeing the error in its way and putting the story/posts back up.
cantstandya 1 year, 2 months ago
Remember when the Tater Barn was right across from the police department and have to give credit to the LEO's at that time,they could have messed with anyone coming out of that establishment but refrained from doing that and there were seldom any problems ,just hope the same for this new watering hole.it's hard to enjoy a few beers when the threat of a DUI is waiting right outside the door,hope there is consideration for those that can have a couple and still not be taken for being intoxicated,now if this was in Whimpering Pines it might be a bad business venture,if caught there with just the alchohol from mouthwash being detected you might as well figure a night in the slammer.
NotSoFast 1 year, 2 months ago
I live within a few blocks of their current location. Great beer. I'll miss you.
tarheelborn 1 year, 2 months ago
Again. WHERE IS THE OUTCRY! I know many people living in the Village of Pinehurst and they are FURIOUS the VILLAGE of PINEHURST is even INVOLVED in this type Spending of Taxpayers money!!!
tarheelborn 1 year, 2 months ago
I'm re-posting my comment from the previous same story which was removed. I could make a suggestion at this point. There were some VERY GOOD comments on the previous article from concerned citizens. OK. LEAVE your page open where you are reading this story. Minimize your Browser, open an Entirely NEW Browser, go to the Pilot webpage and then the (Search Block) on the right top of the page, then type into the search space the word "brewery" without the quotes. Then click on the story... When the story comes up in the new browser, scroll down to your comments from the previous article, (if you are right handed), press and hold the left mouse button at the beginning of your comment and "Highlight" (by holding the mouse down for the entire portion you want to move to this story. Then (Left Click anywhere in the highlighted portion) and press COPY. Minimize that browser window, and re-open this browser. Go to your (post comment section) in this article. Click in the box, just as you were getting ready to type your new comment and (Right Click). It will say "paste". Click on Paste and Ta TA! There it is, your old comment into the new story's comment section..... Hope this helps.....
tarheelborn 1 year, 2 months ago
Oh My GOD! I cannot believe the NEW VILLAGE COUNSEL ! ! ! ! ! What in the WORLD is Going on in Pinehurst! Don't you ELECTED and APPOINTED People know to check out these So Called JOB CREATORS???? PROMOTING A DRUNKEN BARHOUSE Right in the Beautiful Village!!!!!! DON'T YOU HAVE ENOUGH OF THAT PROBLEM, already??? You people are MORE than, well I'm so disgusted about all these backdoor deals ELECTED and APPOINTED Officials do in the Privacy of their Kitchens during BREAKFAST and dinner over WINE and BOOZE and Push all this Crap off on the CITIZENS! Where is the OUTCRY?????? If I remember correctly, the DRUNKEN OWNER of the,, "if you want to call it" an (ESTABLISHMENT) Aberdeen Drunken Bar was arrested for SERVING WHILE CONSUMING, THE PLACE was SHUT DOWN by the AUTHORITIES For TOO LOUD and OVER FLOW CROWDS! ! ! ! !
Also Destroying the AMBIANCE of Pinehurst with ROAD CHANGES, NATURAL RESOURCES, and the List Goes ON AND ON!
You SO CALLED ELECTED OFFICIALS, and I'll call you ALL out, (((DOUG LAPINS, JOHN STRICKLAND, JOHN CASHION, NANCY WHATEVER, MARK PARSONS and Every Other Elected and Appointed so called OFFICIALS I have Forgotten to mention))),,,, BETTER GET your HEAD out of your HINDSIDE, LISTEN and INFORM your Citizens, before you go out here BLOWING EVERYONE'S MONEY ON BOOZE BARS, Address the REAL PROBLEMS AND ISSUES of your FORMER BEAUTIFUL VILLAGE, and THINK, """ if you are capable of such a function""" or just RESIGN your elected jobs and let someone with at least a pee-on part of a brain resume your positions!
Pilot News, I'm sure you will delete this post. Heck you might even delete my account, but FOR GOD'S SAKE, (Literally), I cannot believe our places of worship don't protest to the streets of Pinehurst about this travesty!
tarheelborn 1 year, 2 months ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.