Amidst much fanfare and before several hundred people at Charter Hall in the City Market Building, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, several other staffers from his administration and Roanoke City officials welcomed Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery to the east coast by announcing that the craft brewer will build its next plant right here.
Roanoke was battling several other locales in North Carolina and South Carolina (Asheville and Greenville reportedly) for the right to land Deschutes, which does not distribute much of its product to the east coast right now due to the logistics.
Roanoke City offered land at the Centre for Industry and Technology and will run water and sewer to the site; the new brewery is forecasted to start by hiring just over 100 people when it opens – not expected until 2021 however. “They’ve got their development team in place and they’re figuring out now when they are going to get to Roanoke – and when they are going to start,” said Roanoke Mayor David Bowers. “All of those things are in the works.”
While visiting Roanoke on multiple occasions – during a courtship that dates back to 2012 – teams from Deschutes including founder Gary Fish were shown the valley’s outdoor amenities, arts and culture highlights, some of the best eateries in town, local microbrewers – they even played pinball at the museum in Center in the Square.
Virginia Western Community College was part of the mix – Deschutes officials reportedly were very impressed with the mechatronics program at the school – as was Eldor, the Italian auto parts manufacturer that just a week before Deschutes announced that they would build a plant at the Greenfield Center off U.S. 220 in Botetourt Conty, bringing another 350-plus jobs to the region.
Ian Fortier, Executive Director of the Grandin Theatre Foundation, was one of those Roanokers on hand to help celebrate the Deschutes announcement – which ended with everyone so inclined raising a bottle of the brewer’s beer (including the Governor) for a toast.
“[Its] a validation for every change agent in the Roanoke Valley and southwest Virginia who wakes up every day and commits themselves to making this a more progressive, more livable community,” said Fortier, adding that all of the “positive energy” shown in the pursuit of Deschutes helped make it happen.
Roanoke Regional Partnership executive director Beth Doughty said in 2012 they saw the food and beverage industry as “an obvious target” for economic development, utilizing services from the Western Virginia Water Authority as a major asset. Craft brewers were an early target (they use plenty of water) and Deschutes landed in the crosshairs early on at the Great American Beer Festival. “That was even before they started putting their plans [for expansion] in place.”
Things got serious in 2014 said Doughty. The Partnership doesn’t own anything she noted, but is in the business of bringing the right players together in order to land companies like Deschutes and Eldor. “You bring a lot of people into the tent to try and make the case of why this is the right location. There were a lot of people involved.” What is different lately – and was a major factor in the case of Deschutes – was livability . . . what type of place would the Roanoke Valley be to live, work and play? The Deschutes team liked what they saw and experienced here.
Fish, an avid biker who was given a customized bicycle adorned with the Deschutes logo during the announcement at Charter Hall, said yes, a tasting room at the Deschutes Brewery site is likely but “its first things first.” That means getting the brewing operation up and running is the priority. As for choosing the valley, “it’s a game of inches. We had some terrific choices – and we chose Roanoke. “
Gene Marrano
