North x Northwest: Elk Rapids should pursue agreement with Short's Brewery

We here at Northwest Michigan Second Wave are the first to admit that any processes--especially those involving government at any level--are bound to be more complicated than what they seem.

In Elk Rapids, that's no doubt the case with the village council and a request by Short's Brewing to purchase and renovate an old mustard factory, located on the 200 block of Dexter Street.

The plan proposed would be that Short's, which has previously expanded to Elk Rapids, would buy the former Bech's Mustard Factory and turn it into a brew pub. The total expected investment by Short's, owned by Joe Short, is more than $1 million.

When everything is finished, the property would house a brew pub, a banquet hall and a few condos.

The problem is, the investment and the project may never take place. The village council listened to over 90 minutes of public comments last week with a large majority of those in attendance in support of the project. After a short break, the council agreed, without an official vote, to not pursue allowing the property to be turned over to private ownership. The council did not, however, rule out an entrepreneurial agreement.

Let's face the truth here--with a Meijer likely coming in just down the road in Acme Township, there is an expectation that it will draw a lot of the shoppers in the area. Many businesses are going to take advantage of that opportunity, setting up stores where so many customers are already heading. That could potentially leave Elk Rapids struggling to find businesses that want to risk having the ability to draw people into the village and into their stores. Having Short's in the village limits, would be nothing but a positive.

There is no doubt that Short's has had its fair share of success. Joe Short opened up his business in downtown Bellaire and then expanded in 2008 to Elk Rapids to help increase production and build his distribution area. The Elk Rapids facility, built in the former CSC Manufacturing plant in the northern portion of Elk Rapids, is 18,000-square feet. That facility helped Short's ramp up production four fold over its original numbers and allowed the brewery to start sending out its popular brews in 12-ounce bottles. His investment, at that time, was approximately $500,000. Back then, economic development officials and local businesses were a big supporter of Short's coming to Elk Rapids--something that is still the case today.

The problem is that the village had already made plans to turn the space into a park.

We're not about to say that green space isn't important in an area like Elk Rapids, but we're also not shy about pointing out that the village has both Rotary Park and Library Park to help fill those needs. The money made in the sale of the property could be used to help beautify those two green spaces or perhaps purchase property that isn't in as much need of work as the piece of land in question. In order to turn it into a green space, buildings would have to be demolished and a lot of money would have to be poured into it to make it usable for that purpose.

Short's Brewery would create jobs in Elk Rapids, would bring tax dollars to the village coffers and would have the intangible benefit of drawing people, business and entrepreneurs to the village as well.

A decision to turn away such economic development would be not only unfortunate, but very short sighted on the part of the village.

Short's has the financing, the history of success and the desire to be a part of Elk Rapids' success and future. We aren't the ones making the decisions in that village, but we have to say that from our point of view it seems like a win-win situation. The council is apparently taking steps that have shown a reconsideration of their earlier decision--they met with a group from Short's Brewery late last week and discussed possibly leasing the land and the buildings to the company.

Northwest Michigan Second Wave urges the village council to continue in a quest to support this possibly and do what it can to help facilitate economic growth and development.

Sam Eggleston is the managing editor of Northwest Michigan Second Wave. He was born and raised in Michigan and is a supporter of both green space and economic development. He can be reached via email.

Photo by Brian Confer.