EDC celebrates microbrewery project

ALBANY — It was more than the holiday season that had Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission board members in a celebratory mood at their monthly meeting Wednesday morning.

In its final meeting of the year, the EDC board lauded efforts by its staff and city and county leaders in officially bringing Dr. Tripp Morgan’s Pretoria Fields microbrewery to the Pine Avenue property directly across the street from the EDC’s offices.

“We could not have done this without the EDC,” Albany City Manager Sharon Subadan, an EDC board member, said. “It took all of us — the city, county and EDC — working together to make this work, and I’m proud to say that the City Commission officially approved the project at our meeting last night.

“We’re all excited about what this means to our community, and especially to our downtown.”

EDC President Justin Strickland, who is credited with pitching the idea to bring the microbrewery downtown to Morgan and his partners, said the facility will open a whole new layer of downtown traffic.

“I feel this is going to be a hinge project for downtown that will bring new traffic at a different time,” Strickland said. “Albany’s downtown now is typically busy from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but this will bring people to the district after normal working hours.

“They’re still in the planning stages, but the concepts that Dr. Morgan and his team have put together look incredible.”

Asked about the financial feasibility of the project, Subadan said she turned to a financial analyst who assured her that the project was stable.

“When a project gets too many zeroes, I call for help,” the city manager said.

Strickland praised city leaders for “taking the lead on this project when the focus turned downtown,” but he also praised the work of the Dougherty County Commission in the early stages of the process and its continued work on the farming portion of the Pretoria Fields operation.

Strickland also told the board that an early copy of the EDC’s budgetary audit had arrived earlier in the week and that copies would be sent to members prior to their January meeting.