Whetstone Station Brewery Expands
Adam Grinold, Executive Director
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
(802) 257-7731
agrinold@brattleborodevelopment.com
www.brattleborodevelopment.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WCEDP at Work in the Region Helping to Replace VY Wages Lost
Brattleboro, VT – The Windham County Economic Development Program (WCEDP) is helping Whetstone Station Brewery proceed with an expansion in Brattleboro. A WCEDP loan will provide a portion of the funding, in addition to support form People’s United Bank, to purchase real estate at 39-45 Frost Street in Brattleboro. This acquisition will allow the owners of Whetstone Station Brewery to expand their production capacity.
“The Whetstone restaurant has enjoyed success over the past six years and our own craft beers have begun to receive both regional and national recognition. Given that, we have not always been able to keep-up with demand- a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. The new brewery will allow us to better support the restaurant, add taps of our brews, make more take-home crowlers, participate in more festivals and events- especially at Kampfires, our event space and campground- and supply the Rollin’ Stone, our mobile beer and food truck with more beer!” said David Hiler, co-founder Whetstone Station Restaurant and Brewery,” said David Hiler, Founder Whetstone Station Restaurant and Brewery.
“David makes things happen! It’s exciting to see this expansion as well as other recent projects leveraging the WCEDP program for entrepreneurial and expansion uses,” said R.T. Brown, WCEDP Project Manager at the BDCC.
WCEDP Funds are limited to uses that advance the goals and objectives in the region’s 2014 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) – a five-year plan to grow the economy, which was crafted by the region to mitigate the impacts of the VY job losses. “Whetstone’s expansion is exciting. Not only does it add new jobs to the region, but the project is located in Brattleboro adjacent to another WCEDP funded project, Mocha Joes Roasting Company, which will help bring vibrancy to a much-needed area.” Adam Grinold, BDCC Executive Director.
The BDCC and Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) began looking at the potential impacts of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant (VY) closure during the process of creating the 2014 CEDS, the region’s first. At that point, an impact study had been conducted showed a VY closure would mean the loss of hundreds of high-paying jobs and hundreds of millions of economic activity. When the VY closure was announced, the State had in hand this critical information about the size of the potential impact. This is why Vermont’s VY closure agreement included funding of $10 MM for the WCEDP. The BDCC and SeVEDS also worked very hard to frame a process which would deliver support and funding to local organizations and businesses, as well as a process that would be grounded with local stakeholders. The WCEDP “Windham Partners” group includes town and local economic development organizations, representation from the legislature and private industry, and the Windham Regional Commission. The WCEDP has been successful helping many organizations, replacing lost wages, and setting a national standard for assistance to nuclear host communities experiencing a closure. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) helps to administer the program in collaboration with the BDCC.
For more information about the Windham County Economic Development Program, interested parties can contact R.T. Brown at the BDCC, rbrown@brattleborodevelopment.com.
—
About WCEDP
The WCEDP promotes economic development in Windham County by providing funds to stimulate job creation through business start-up, expansion, or relocation, encourage entrepreneurial activity, and strengthen the economic development infrastructure to ensure a strong foundation for transformational economic activity. The primary focus of the program will be private sector job creation and retention, and direct support of entrepreneurial activities, followed by support of systems and activities that encourage an entrepreneurial, innovation and business start-up environment and culture. For more information, please review https://brattleborodevelopment.com/loans/.
About BDCC and SeVEDS:
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation is a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont, including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, and Weston. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area. BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. For more information visit: https://brattleborodevelopment.com/.
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to reverse the economic decline of the Windham Region and plan for the economic impacts from the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In 2014, after multiple years of regional input, education and data gathering, SeVEDS submitted the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for federal approval. For more information visit: www.seveds.com.
