Plans shift for craft brewing education center
A proposal to build on Tumwater’s brewing heritage by creating a craft brewing and distilling center fell by the wayside at this year’s legislative session. But backers of the project — including Tumwater city leaders and South Puget Sound Community College — are not drowning their sorrows.
They had sought $3 million this year to buy land in Tumwater. They also hoped to request $30 million next year to build a structure to house educational programs to help prepare workers for careers in brewing and distilling.
But even without money for the land, SPSCC is moving straight ahead with development of a craft brewing and distilling education program. It will be housed initially on the main campus on Olympia’s west side in a building that once housed a horticulture program.
“We will outgrow it in short order, but space is not critical for our immediate efforts,” SPSCC spokeswoman Kelly Green said this week. “Our funding focus right now is truly around building support for the educational programming involved in creating a center for excellence.”
Green said the college has run a noncredit class for brewers, but plans to seek accreditation for expanded offerings. She said SPSCC’s biggest contribution to a city-college-industry partnership “is our unique ability to create a strong curriculum that gives the workforce the skills they need to drive this industry, and we want to make sure we do that well.”
Tumwater’s effort is based on what Walla Walla has done in recent decades around wine, and that effort required a lot of soil preparation before it grew.
Promoters of the brewing and distilling industry believe an education center, flanked by craft breweries and craft distilleries, could spur millions of dollars of economic activity and create hundreds of jobs in Thurston County. That is the conclusion of a state-funded study done by a Saint Martin’s University associate professor, Riley Moore, in June 2015.
The study said an education center with adjacent craft breweries and distilleries could eventually add as many as 662 jobs and $101 million or more to the local economy. The education center and college programs alone could generate 271 jobs and $30 million a year in activity.
Meanwhile, Tumwater city staff are continuing to work with a San Jose, California-based investor, Michael Weinstock, who has an option to buy 9 acres along Capitol Boulevard that are held by a local bank. The city has had its eyes on buying three of those acres, but other options may open up for the brewing education center, according to city administrator John Doan, who remains optimistic about a project.
Doan likes to point out that brewing was a major industrial activity for more than a century in Tumwater, beginning in 1896 and ending a decade ago with the closure of Pabst’s facilities.
South Sound lawmakers had pushed for funding in the supplemental capital budget. But they were unable to make headway in a supplemental budget year.
Sen. Karen Fraser, Rep. Sam Hunt and Rep. Chris Reykdal have been unified in supporting the project, which was one of the top priorities of the three cities and the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce. The project is also backed by the county’s Economic Development Council.
Doan said backers have made progress raising awareness of the growing craft brewing and distilling industries and the need for workforce education. Besides the college, EDC, the three cities and WSU’s food science programs, support came from brewer and distiller guilds, the state Department of Agriculture, Seattle Central College and the Port of Seattle, Doan said.
Moving quickly is a good thing, but broader support and a better plan are essential to success.
This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Plans shift for craft brewing education center."