Brew Hub LLC today announced the signing of a lease in Lakeland, Fla., for its first brewery site, with construction expected to begin in May.
The company, which plans spending about $100 million to build five contract breweries over the next five years, signed a 50,400 square-foot industrial lease in Lakeland, a city about 35 miles east of Tampa and about 55 miles southwest of Orlando. As previously reported, the brewery will have an initial brewing capacity of approximately 75,000 barrels annually. Colliers International Tampa Bay, a real estate service, represented Brew Hub in the transaction.
“This will be a very specialized build-out, especially to accommodate all the tanks and pipes involved in the brewing process,” said Dolores Seymour of Colliers International. “The shell has to be built first, and then the equipment will go in before construction can continue.
Started by former Anheuser-Busch executive Tim Schoen, Brew Hub, which uses the slogan “where craft brewers go to grow,” will use the Lakeland facility as a blueprint for future facilities. Schoen noted the Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, West Coast and Texas as potential regions for future Brew Hub facilities.
Paul Farnsworth, Brew Hub’s chief brewmaster, will oversee design, layout, construction and the day-to-day operation of the brewing, production and warehouse facility in Lakeland. According to a previous release from Brew Hub, Farnsworth has helped start or operate more than 100 breweries in 10 countries.
“The demographics of the geography are excellent,” Seymour said. “This site also offers curb appeal and visibility from I-4, and there are 8.5 million people within a 100-mile radius.”