Schmidt Brewery Redevelopment?
The owners of the historic Schmidt Brewery complex in St. Paul have submitted plans to the city to redevelop part of the property into a functional brewery, restaurant and museum.
The brewery has been a dream of Minnetonka-based BHGDN, the investment group that owns the site, since the last beer rolled off the bottling line more than a decade ago, said BHGDN President Dave Kreitzer
The plan is separate from a redevelopment of the rest of the 1930s-era Schmidt complex, at 900 W. Seventh St., by Plymouth-based Dominium. Dominium, which will close on a $6 million purchase for its portion of the site soon, wants to build a $115 million apartment complex.
Kreitzer said his company needs permission from the St. Paul Historic Preservation Commission to separate the 67,000-square-foot annex from the old bottling house, which will become Dominium’s apartments.
Using water from an aquifer, Kreitzer said the site could make 80,000 barrels a year. (Summit Brewing Co. of St. Paul makes 104,000 barrels yearly.) Kreitzer said his group has also a number of Twin Cities-based beer artifacts for a museum.
BHGDN has been talking to existing breweries about partnering on a brewpub or a tap room. It could also do some contract brewing at the site.
The overall project could range from $5 million to $10 million, Kreitzer said. The group doesn’t have funding yet, but will use proceeds from the Dominium sale to help finance the annex project, he said.