The fact that Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City has wanted to expand to Pinellas County has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the Tampa Bay area craft beer scene during the past year or so.
A story Tuesday on tampabay.com, the website for the Tampa Bay Times, finally confirmed it after a public meeting seeking a zoning variance from the county for the enterprise.
According to the story by Times staff writer Piper Castillo:
- The Doble family, owners of TBBC, are purchasing a 23,500-square-foot brewery at 133 Candy Lane in Ozona, just few miles north of Dunedin, for $1.04 million.
- The building, which borders the Pinellas Trail, will have a 15,000-square-foot production area, including six fermenting tanks, two brite tanks, and a 5,000-square-foot packaging area, as well as a tasting room.
- The sale is expected to close November 7. In the article, the reporter quotes David Doble as saying that they will start construction the next day.
Doble confirmed that for Beer in Florida, but a post he wrote on the Tampa Bay Brewing Company Facebook page Wednesday emphasized that it’s still not a done deal.
So there may still be a few more bureaucratic hurdles to jump before the Pinellas County project can get off the ground.
“At this point, the appeal period is over October 3rd or 4th,” Doble said in a phone interview. “If an appeal is filed, you’re talking about months more.”
There are also the federal, state and local brewing and business permits to be acquired. But Doble remains optimistic. The brewing system has been ordered, and the engineering studies have begun.
“We are in the first stages of this,” he said.
