There’s a new home for a popular wine spot in Redding, and more news on Fall River Brewing’s move. Meanwhile, Mt. Shasta Ski Park sweetens deal for pass-holders.
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John Hutchings, far right, president and co-owner of Fall River Brewing Co., looks on as crews unload a tank at the brewery’s new location on Eastside Road in south Redding.(Photo: Sean Longoria/Record Searchlight)
Expect big things for Fall River Brewing Company when it starts production in Redding.
Company President John Hutchings told me they hope to open their new headquarters by mid-May. Fall River will phase out its Burney operation while it fine-tunes the Redding plant.
“There will be some trial and error to dial things in,” Hutchings said. “We want to make sure the beer tastes the same as it does in Burney, so there will be a few weeks of learning.”
Since the fall, Hutchings and company have been working to repurpose the former Redding Distributing building on Eastside Road. The brewery bought the 41,000-square-foot building last March for $1.65 million.
More: Fall River Brewing moving to Redding
Its efforts got a boost Tuesday when the Redding City Council approved $40,000 in job credits to help offset sewer impact, traffic impact and building permit fees.
In exchange, Fall River Brewing plans to hire an additional 25 employees while investing nearly $4 million on its new brewery and headquarters. The brewery looks to have some 50 employees by 2020 and eventually would open a tap room at its Eastside Road headquarters.
Its new home gives the brewery the capability of producing 60,000 barrels per year, which Hutchings says would rank Fall River among the top 20 breweries in California.
The brewery has found a new home in south Redding.
Sean Longoria
The brewery worked with Redding Development Services Director Larry Vaupel, who Hutchings said was extremely helpful in walking them through the development process.
“We were already committed (to Redding) prior to the credits,” Hutchings said. “It was more like icing on the cake.”
Clearly, Fall River landing in Redding is a big economic development win for an area struggling to grow its workforce and climb back from the Great Recession.
The brewery chose Redding over Anderson, Yreka, Mt. Shasta and Nevada.
“Redding was always our No. 1 choice because Shasta County is our home and we wanted to stay here,” Hutchings said. “We felt if we can make it work, that was the best place to land.”
As for a future tap room, Hutchings would like to see it happen in the next three years.
“The goal for the tap room is to offer an experience rather than just a place to drink beer,” Hutchings said. “It would be two stories, with indoor and outdoor seating, a banquet room, those types of things.”
The Grape Escape on the move — again
The Grape Escape, a wine bar in downtown Redding, is moving for the second time in three years.
The business remains downtown, a few blocks south on the northwest corner of Pine and South streets.
The Grape Escape opened in 2011 on Yuba Street in the Market Street Promenade. Co-founder Jim Boisselle moved the business to Market Street next to the Cascade Theatre in June 2015.
The new location opened Wednesday. The Grape Escape’s hours are 4:30-10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
“I always looked at the house and thought that would be a cool place,” Boisselle said, adding that he has outdoor seating in the front and back.
The Grape Escape also leveraged city incentives to soften the costs of its move.
Dignity wellness campus update
Dignity Health’s wellness campus has been in limbo since August, when the Redding Planning Commission, at a meeting to consider approval, voted to put the project on hold after getting an 11th-hour letter from a law firm representing labor groups that asserted an environmental impact report must be done.
More: EIR to be done for Dignity wellness campus
After weighing its options, Dignity decided to do an EIR. The healthcare giant wants to build the wellness campus south of the Cypress Bridge in the Henderson Open Space area.
On Tuesday, the Redding City Council authorized the Planning Department to negotiate a contract with SHN Consulting to do the EIR. SHN is based in Eureka but has an office in Redding.
This rendering shows where the Dignity Health project would be located in relation to the Cobblestone shopping center and the Sacramento River. (Photo: NMR Architects)
The cost cannot exceed $232,305 and Dignity Health will pay for the report.
Paul Hellman, Redding’s planning manager, expects the contract to be signed in early April, and a draft EIR ready by February 2019.
At that point, the public would have 45 days to review it, the city would then have time to respond to public comments, and then it would come before the Planning Commission before going to the City Council for final approval.
That means construction probably won’t start until the second half of 2019.
Dignity had hoped to open the first phase of the 129,800-square-foot campus in 2019, but that was before that letter landed with a thud at the Aug. 22 Planning Commission meeting.
Demanding an EIR be done are Redding Residents for Responsible Development, a group that includes International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 340, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 228, Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 and their families who live and work in Redding and Shasta County.
Hellman has stood behind the city’s original decision not to do an EIR, noting that the California Environmental Quality Act does not say an EIR must be prepared for every project.
Attention Mt. Shasta Ski park pass holders
Those who purchased 2017-18 season passes at Mt. Shasta Ski Park have been waiting to hear what the resort will do to compensate them.
Thanks to a lack of snow, the ski park park’s season really didn’t start until Feb. 23. With the season typically over by mid-April, that’s not a lot of time on the slopes.
More: Mt. Shasta Ski Park to reopen Friday
So here is the deal for season-pass holders. The ski park on its Facebook page announced season-pass holders can purchase a 2018-19 pass for half the price they paid this season. The deal runs through April 30, and you can only get it if you buy the pass at the ski park.
Reporter David Benda can be reached at 225-8219 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS.
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