New Belgium & Sierra Nevada Speak Out On North Carolina Site Selection
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MyBeer Buzz
We’ve followed along as New Belgium and Sierra Nevada both did high-profile searches for Asheville, NC area real estate to open their east coast facilities. Now an interesting article has been published by SiteSelection giving us a peek behind the scenes at what the companies were saying about the sites…AND each other. Some notable notes for the article….
The list was narrowed to 18 and then to nine. A Sierra Nevada team looked at one site in Ohio, one in Pennsylvania, one in Georgia, two in Tennessee, three in Virginia and one in North Carolina. Asheville was not on that list due to the desire to not infringe on the region’s thriving beer culture. The exhaustive search was going to end with Maryville, Tenn., a Knoxville suburb, as the winner. Or so it seemed.
"I thought at that point that the next word out of Ken Grossman’s mouth would be we would go to Tennessee, to the Knoxville area, which is a wonderful place," Schjeldahl recalls. "Maryville’s people were so accommodating. The governor was very engaged and there was great cooperation. It was a small college town and had everything we wanted."
Grossman hesitated on Maryville because he felt like there were some unresolved engineering issues and there was some uncertainty about future development around the site.
"He came to the conclusion that we didn’t really need to be in a college town and that we would never recreate what we have in Chico," Schjeldahl says. "He said ‘Let’s open this up and drop the college connection and see if we can find a balance with local breweries.’ So we looked at six more communities in North Carolina, including in the Piedmont and lower Foothills, and then in Asheville."
Sierra Nevada also considered the site that New Belgium eventually selected in downtown Asheville.
"It’s got some contamination and flood plain issues, but you can overcome those with money usually," Schjeldahl says. "It’s also right in the face of some of Asheville’s brewers. This seemed a little insensitive, so we narrowed it to three sites: one in Marion, one in Black Mountain and this one."
Schjeldahl describes the Mills River site, near the Asheville Regional Airport and about 10 miles (16 km.) from Asheville, as the perfect compromise. The location is not urban, but it has a regional presence, he says. It has great access to I-26 and frontage on the French Broad River. Although Asheville water is available at the site, which is part of a 262-acre (106-hectare) industrial park, the company elected to drill its own well.
Throughout the process, New Belgium was aware that Sierra Nevada was also looking for a site on the East Coast.
"We heard their top choice was Knoxville, and Chattanooga was one of our top cities," Vervier says. "By the time we heard that they were even looking at North Carolina, we were kind of past the point of no return. We each had to play our own ball game. If it turned out we were near each other, then that is the way it was going to be. The sites are about 15 miles (24 km.) apart, but also very different. Ours is in a city and theirs is not. We didn’t want it to happen and it wasn’t our preference, but when it became inevitable, we decided to make the best of it. We have found throughout our history that competition makes you stronger, so we are okay with that."
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