USA, MI: New Holland Brewing pushes back initial plans for spring opening

Visible signs of New Holland Brewing Co.'s impending opening have been cropping up, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported on January 10.

The brewery has a job posting out for a general manager for its Battle Creek location, for instance.

But its initial plans for a spring opening have been pushed back.

“It’s been a long process, and we’ve encountered a little bit more than we were anticipating as we started going through the building,” said Brett VanderKamp, president and founder of New Holland, at a Tuesday meeting of the Battle Creek City Commission.

While the brewery initially expected to open in Battle Creek this spring, a tax exemption application from New Holland listed June 30, 2019, as the projected completion date of the rehabilitation.

“No opening date has been set yet at this point,”said Dave White, New Holland’s vice president of retail operations. “We’re working toward a summer/fall opening. We’re hoping to kick off construction in February, March, and right now everything is just in the final stages of design and development.”

Battle Creek city commissioners unanimously approved New Holland for an obsolete property rehabilitation tax exemption on Tuesday. The brewery expects to spend $2.5 million rehabilitating the building at 64 W. Michigan Ave.

“(The abatement) will greatly help us offset some of the additional capital costs that were beyond what we looked at,” VanderKamp said.

Battle Creek estimated that taxes on the property would total $1,105,523 over 12 years without the abatement. With the abatement, the total taxes would be $388,536.

In April, New Holland was awarded Battle Creek Unlimited's $200,000 brewery incentive and the 64 W. Michigan Ave. property, right next to Rice's Shoe Store.

10 January, 2019