Albany City Commission clears remaining craft brewery hurdle

ALBANY — Though the final vote won’t be taken until their business meeting next Tuesday, Albany city commissioners cleared what should be the final hurdle Tuesday from the pathway that will allow Dr. Tripp Morgan to move forward with development of his downtown craft brewery.

Procedural changes during the ongoing approval process delayed what was initially expected to be a February construction start of the craft brewery that will utilize crops grown on farmland in Dougherty, Lee and Mitchell counties. The brewery and the farmland are part of Morgan’s Pretoria Fields operation.

“The city’s worked with us to get to this point in the process,” Albert Etheridge, a spokesman for Morgan’s business ventures, said. “We were beset with some architectural and engineering issues during the process, but I think we’ve finally worked those issues out.

“We’re about to carry this project to the house.”

City Manager Sharon Subadan told commissioners groundbreaking and construction of the facility would move quickly with their approval, a contention Etheridge confirmed.

“Once we wrap up some of the final details, we’ll have a groundbreaking a handful of days later,” Etheridge said. “We’ll have a small event on the farmland out in the county, then have a big event downtown. Not long after that, we’ll start turning dirt.”

One of the primary financial institutions involved in the project is expected to be Southwest Georgia Farm Credit. That company’s relationship manager, Josh McGalliard, said the company is ready to help Morgan and his team move forward with the craft brewery.

“As a lender that supports farmers and rural communities, we like to see vertical integration — when a farmer links production of his crop to demand in other crop-related products or businesses,” McGalliard said. “It creates opportunities in small towns and communities that need a boost to their economy.”

Subadan noted that Pretoria Fields’ change in financial institutions required changes to the memorandum of understanding between the city and the company. She said the primary change is that the city will move to a second-lien position rather than a shared first-lien position that it held under the previous agreement.

City Attorney Nathan Davis said the change is negligible.

“From a practical and a legal standpoint, this is not a big change,” Davis said. “Our consultant who’s advised us on this process (Dan McRae with Seyfarth Shaw of Atlanta) agrees that this is still a favorable agreement for the city.”

Ward IV City Commissioner Roger Marietta encouraged his colleagues to approve the change.

“I think we need to take whatever steps necessary to move this project forward expeditiously,” Marietta said.

The craft brewery, planned for the 122 and 124 Pine Ave. property that was formerly the Art Park and an Albany Herald warehouse, will be located in Albany City Commissioner B.J. Fletcher’s Ward III. Fletcher said she wholeheartedly supports the project.

“There was tremendous excitement in our community when this project was announced, and even though it’s taken longer than we first hoped, that excitement has not let up,” the Ward III commissioner said. “We are looking forward to getting through the necessary paperwork and getting this project going. I believe it’s going to play a big part in bringing our downtown back to life.”

Etheridge said local contractor LRA Constructors would complete the design-build of the brewery project.

Etheridge, who noted that the Pretoria Fields farmland harvested its first crop of organically grown wheat during the last growing season, said the company had already inked contracts with end users who will buy its harvest while the craft brewery is under construction and afterward.

“This has been a sometimes tedious process, but the city has been great to work with,” Etheridge said. “We’re looking forward to getting through these final steps and moving forward.”

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