HomeMy Public PortalAbout5 Fraser Valley Distilling ProposalMemo To: Fraser Economic Development Advisory Committee
Jeff Durbin, Town Manager
Memo From: Fraser Valley Distilling Company, Barry and Debbie Young
Application for Fraser Economic Development Benefits
We are in the planning process for development of a new commercial retail building in
downtown Fraser (FroDo). As part of the development we are applying for the new Fraser
Economic Development Benefits. We apply for these benefits and respectfully request approval
as soon as feasible under the following premises:
1. First our retail commercial development complies with the criteria set out by the
Economic Development Advisory Committee and approved by the Town Board; it is a
new retail commercial development that will commence construction before January 1,
2019. We are working hard to commence early summer, 2017.
2. We have previously presented to the Board our development plans which includes a
building approximately 3300 square feet, roughly half for production of spirits and half
for a retail tasting room, to be constructed as a metal frame (pre fab) building wrapped
with exterior materials acceptable to the Town Planner and Planning Commission.
3. By providing our development the incentive benefits outlined in the new policy
statement, we will be able to develop and grow our business much faster, larger and
with a much more attractive building, thus bringing more traffic to FroDo for our
business as well as others. This will lead to much greater sales tax revenue to the town
over time.
4. We have are committed to using 100% of estimated incentive benefits over the ten year
period to construct a larger building with a more expensive and we believe very exciting
building plan and style.
a. First instead of a metal frame building we are proposing to construct our building
out of welded structural steel, with the steel visible inside both the tasting room
and the production facility creating a very attractive, welcoming and somewhat
industrial look common to successful distilleries, breweries, etc. This type of
construction is more costly but we believe will be a look that both we and the
town will be most proud of and will lead to more visitors.
b. Second we are proposing to increase the size of the building by around 1200
square feet creating a much larger whiskey barrel storage area, allowing for
around three times the long term barrel storage of the smaller space while also
leaving room for special events. The ability to store more barrels and to do
special events will lead to much greater retail sales and thus sales tax over a very
long period of time.
c. Third, we are proposing to install more parking spaces than required (14 in total)
which again over time will lead to greater retail sales and traffic to FroDo.
d. Fourth, while we always planned to serve food at some level, we are now
proposing to install a 400 sq. ft. full commercial kitchen and phase in overtime a
higher level of food quality that we believe will lead to even greater traffic and
retail sales as we develop the food plan we anticipate. (Our son, a chef, is
training at a top level restaurant in Atlanta that cures its own meats, ferments
foods, and sources high quality local products).
5. Creating quality whiskey takes a long time, typically two to three years which results in
new distilleries having negative cash flow for years; to the extent we can afford to put
down more barrels during the first years of operation, our revenues for the later years
will be much greater, benefiting both the business and the town.
6. Finally and we believe very important, this new and exciting business will be in the
downtown corridor where we all have developed a very exciting vision. As we fully plan
to utilize all incentive proceeds to improve the building plan, we sincerely believe we
can not only contribute to the downtown development but also provide encouragement
to other developers to join us in facilitating the vision.
We have spent a significant amount of time during the last 18 months developing our distillery
business plan, visiting other existing and startup distilleries, attending distillery classes,
attending the annual American Distillers Conference and in two weeks attending a week long
hands on distilling class at a working operation that uses the equipment we have ordered.
We are working to develop a distillery that will be among the finest in the state of Colorado ,
that will be an asset to the Town of Fraser and one that will over a very long period of time
bring significant benefits, both financial and otherwise to our town. We are full time permanen t
Fraser residents and all three of our adult children, our son in law and grandson are planning
and quite frankly anxious to move here to also be full tim e residents. This is a business we are
building for our family with the intention that it live on for generations and contribute to our
town in many ways.
We have developed a distillery strategy that we believe will lead to one of the best and thus
most visited distilleries in the state and by providing our business with the incentive program it
will help mitigate some of the business risk we are taking and will provide a significant
contribution toward implementing the strategy we have developed; this help will lead to a
much more attractive business, which will grow much faster and larger, benefiting both our
family, the town of Fraser and the development of the Downtown Fraser area that we all desire
so much.
Thank you, Barry and Debbie Young