City approves property purchase for Samuel Adams expansion

Cincinnati City Council has approved the purchase of a piece of contaminated property that the Samuel Adams Brewery Company, Ltd. covets for the expansion of its West End plant.

Part of the much larger Providence North brownfield site, Phase II Environmental Assessments performed on the quarter-acre property at 1660 Central Avenue show that it requires asbestos abatement and soil and ground water remediation. A dry cleaning warehouse once occupied the site.

The City and Samuel Adams subsidiary Providence Street Associates, LLC have partnered on a $3 million Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) grant application to pay for demolition and site cleanup.

But due to potential liability, the brewery is unwilling to own the property during the cleanup process.

Providence Street Associates will pay the City $305,870 up front, with the remainder to be paid off during the remediation process. Once the property is cleaned and the City receives a Covenant Not to Sue from the Ohio EPA – releasing the City from future liability – the site will be transferred to Samuel Adams.

Both parties hope to hear about the status of the CORF application this month.

Samuel Adams Brewery Company, the local subsidiary of Boston Beer Company, has been at the former Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewery since 1997. The last major expansion of the plant occurred in 2005.

The latest expansion would allow the brewery to add barrel storage and delivery truck staging, retaining approximately 100 jobs in the neighborhood.

Previous reading on BC:
Providence North brownfield gets capital account (11/18/09)
Capital account could be created for Providence North (11/3/09)
ODOD awards $282K grant for West End site assessment (10/5/09)