RSSBrewing company building owner hopes new tenants will hop on board
Yakima Herald-Republic
The building formerly occupied by Grants Brewing Co. near Washington Avenue has been purchased by Del Matthews, who's now trying to lease it.
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YAKIMA -- A once-legendary brewing facility has a new owner.
Del Matthews has purchased the former Yakima Brewing & Malting Co. facility at 1803 Presson Place for $879,913 from International Wine & Spirits Ltd., a holding company of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates.
The brewery was home to Scottish native Bert Grant's well-
regarded microbrews that included his nationally acclaimed Grant's Scottish Ale.
Matthews, who owns several properties throughout Yakima, is open to leasing the 33,000-square-foot facility to a variety of potential tenants, but said the facility is still prime for beer making -- with millions of dollars of brewing equipment inside.
"It would be nice to see if there is a microbrewery that would be interested in it," Matthews said.
He might have a hard time generating interest. A hop shortage has driven prices well above historic levels, discouraging brewers from expanding facilities or starting new ones, said Arlen Harris, executive director of the Washington Beer Commission.
"Our commodity costs have at least tripled, in some cases quadrupled," he said. "It's causing some breweries and some brewery owners who were thinking of expanding or those who wanted to go into the business to slow down for the time being."
Grant established the brewery in 1982. He also opened Grant's Brewery Pub, the first brewpub in the nation since Prohibition. He sold the business to Stimson Lane Vineyards & Estates., now Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, in 1995. Paul Brown and Greg Tranum purchased the company in 2001.
Under Brown and Tranum's tenure, the company faced financial problems. In 2003, Yakima Brewing fell behind in its payments to International Wine & Spirits. It avoided foreclosure by giving its plant, property and equipment back to International Wine & Spirits and entering into a lease agreement.
The pair shut the brewery down in October 2005, stating that it was more financially efficient to move production to other regions of the country. But just two months later, Grant's Brewery Pub closed after the state revoked its liquor license.
Matthews hopes a new tenant will bring the facility back into operation that will preserve Grant's legacy.
"There's a lot of local history," he said.
* Mai Hoang can be reached at 577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The headline on this story has been updated to correct erroneous information that appeared in the original version.
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