ADICA signs off on microbrewery proposal

ALBANY — The Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority agreed to a memorandum of understanding at a special called meeting Monday evening that paves the way for the Albany City Commission to give final approval tonight to the Pretoria Fields LLC microbrewery planned at 122-124 Pine Ave.

The ADICA board, after meeting briefly in executive session, voted unanimously to approve the memorandum of understanding that allows for the 124 Pine Ave. property owned by the authority to be leased to Pretoria Fields, the company formed by Albany vascular surgeon Dr. Tripp Morgan, for a period of 15 years. At the end of that time, Preotria will have paid off $1.25 million in city-backed Revolving Loan Funds that is part of the agreement, and the property will be conveyed to the company.

Pretoria Fields had previously purchased property at 122 Pine Ave. from The Albany Herald.

“I’m still going over the agreement, which is quite complicated, but it is written in a way that protects the interests of the city’s taxpayers as well as Pretoria Fields,” Downtown Manager/ADICA President Latoya Cutts said this morning. “Everyone involved agreed that a land lease was the best way to handle this property exchange initially, but when (Pretoria Fields) repays the revolving loan, ownership will be conveyed to them.”

Morgan’s announcement that Pretoria Fields would build an 18,000-square-foot microbrewery along Pine has been generally hailed as a tremendous boost for the city’s planned development of its downtown district. In its deal with the city, the company includes language that indicates it intends to distribute alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages brewed at the site throughout the Southeast and beyond. The company also said it plans to export its products through the inland port in Cordele for shipment from the port of Savannah.

“Since ADICA is listed as the owner of the property (known widely as the Art Park), this agreement was needed to move the process of bringing the microbrewery downtown forward,” Cutts said after Monday’s ADICA meeting. “We needed to do a special called meeting because this would be the last opportunity for us to get this agreement in place for City Commission approval.

“Once they take a final vote, everything should be in place for Pretoria Fields to move forward.”

Days before plans to build the microbrewery were announced, Cutts told the ADICA board that an Atlanta developer had made an offer on the former Albany Heights building, also on Pine. The City Commission tentatively approved Novin Construction’s proposal at a work meeting last Tuesday.

Both projects are expected to be approved by the commission at tonight’s meeting.