New Belgium Brewing updates Asheville construction timeline

A rendering of the new New Belgium Brewing facility in Asheville, N.C. The project is being pushed back about 8 months, but only because of smart planning.

Beer City USA 2012 will have to wait just a little longer before mighty craft titan New Belgium Brewing Co. will finish its new brewing and distribution facility in Asheville, N.C. (about eight months longer). Why are they making us wait? Well, New Belgium is meeting capacity with its revamped brewhouse in its hometown of Fort Collins, Colo. With 70,000 barrels (bbls) of capacity recently added, the Fort Collins brewery can produce up to 920,000 bbls, which will take New Belgium through 2015 sales projections.

“We’re in a good situation as far as capacity in Fort Collins right now,” said New Belgium Spokesman Bryan Simpson in a press release. “With deconstruction in Asheville wrapping up, our plan is to operate at maximum efficiency in Fort Collins and bring Asheville online at just the right moment. Along with our construction partners and the City of Asheville, we look forward to using the additional time to balance the many elements of such a dynamic project.”

New Belgium Brewing also announced that it has nearly completed deconstruction at the site of its future Asheville facility and will continue site development and building construction later in 2014. Current estimates are for about an eight-month adjustment to the construction timeline. Once underway, the construction phase will take place over 22 months as originally projected. The scope and physical attributes of the project remain the same.

The major two-year construction project will transform the former Western North Carolina Livestock Market on Craven Street, located just 1/2 mile from downtown Asheville. It will join the many artists, studios, galleries and restaurant in the revitalized commercial warehouse district, known as the River Arts District. New Belgium will also continue to work with the community to develop bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the area. Of note: All recovered materials slated for repurposing at the Asheville facility have been down-streamed to contractors or put into storage for future use. In fact, above is a cool video on how New Belgium and its construction contractors are recycling much of material from the previous livestock market. We here at CBB think that’s pretty cool.