Surly Brewing Company is looking for additional funding to advance its $20 million “destination brewery” project.
 
Brooklyn Center-based Surly in February applied for a $500,000 loan through Hennepin County’s Transit Oriented Development program, which supports redevelopment and new construction that enhances the use of local transit.
 
News of the loan request comes a few months after Surly received approval for various grants cover environmental cleanup costs at a Minneapolis site that it has been exploring.
 
In late January, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved a $450,000 grant for environmental cleanup at the Minneapolis site, located near Highway 280 and University Avenue. And earlier that same month, the Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded $1.5 million worth of environmental cleanup grants for the site—which is located in Prospect Park and once housed a Northern Star Company potato processing plant.
 
Surly, a craft brewer, said in September that the Minneapolis site had “risen to the top” of its list of options for the new brewery but wasn’t a sure thing—and the company still hasn’t announced solidified plans to build at the site or specified when it is likely to make a final decision. The site is near the $957 million Central Corridor light-rail line that’s under construction.
 
A total of $2 million in Transit Oriented Development funding is available this year. Applications to the program were submitted in late February. Patricia Fitzgerald, principal planning analyst for Hennepin County, told Twin Cities Business on Tuesday that 11 projects applied for loans and grants collectively totaling $3.6 million. According to Fitzgerald, the applications will be under review until mid-May or early June, at which time the Hennepin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority will determine which projects to fund.

Transit Oriented Development loans and grants are issued on an annual, competitive basis and provide funding for infrastructure to private developers and city projects. Transit Oriented Development funds have assisted projects along key Hennepin County transit corridors such as Hiawatha, Central Corridor, Southwest, and Bottineau.

A Minneapolis spokesperson told Twin Cities Business that the city must issue a resolution of support for Surly’s newest loan request in order for the project to receive the funds, which it plans to do.
 
In February 2011, Surly announced plans to build a $20 million destination brewery—complete with a bar, restaurant, event center, beer garden, and rooftop terrace—and the company helped spearhead a change in state liquor laws to allow Minnesota brewers to sell pints of beer from on-site “taprooms.”
 
In June, Surly narrowed its list of possible locations for the destination brewery to four—two in Minneapolis, one in Brooklyn Center, and another in an unnamed “inner-suburban” location. Then in July, Surly selected Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers to design the brewery.
 
Surly representatives couldn’t be reached mid-day Tuesday for comment on the loan request and the status of the destination brewery project.
 
Surly is among Minnesota’s five largest breweries based on barrels produced.