Redevelopment plan change will pave way for distillery
Asbury Park Distilling, LLC will manufacture craft gin, whiskey
The Asbury Park Planning Board approved a recommendation Monday to change the downtown redevelopment plan to help make way for the city’s first craft distillery.
The site of the proposed distillery is within the city’s Central Business District [CBD] redevelopment zone. The distillery is considered a light manufacturing use, and light industry is not permitted in the CBD zone. The board approved a measure that would amends the plan to allow light manufacturing only at the planned distillery site, located on the corner of Lake Avenue and Press Plaza [shown above].
Planning board members voted 7-0 in favor of the change.
“They were highly receptive of the idea,” said Andrew Karas, an attorney and partner in the venture. “There was a clear impression that they saw this as a great fit for the downtown.”
If successful, downtown Asbury Park would be the home of the state’s first gin and whiskey distillery since prohibition, Karas said.
Asbury Park Distilling, LLC. plans a 4,000 square foot craft distillery within the same building as the soon-to-be-opened Asbury Festhalle and Biergarten, according to plans submitted to the city. A wall with a glass partition could allow patrons of both businesses to see through to the other side.
The distillery side of the building will carry the same industrial, prohibition-era feeling of the biergarden exterior, Karas said, with the same large, iron windows carried to the distillery side of the building.
“It fits well, it’s an exciting idea, and it brings an entirely new concept to the downtown, said Karas.
The gin and whiskey distilled on site can be sold to local restaurants and paired with their unique food offerings, he said, which helps to further the local flavor of the city’s established restaurant scene.
Besides the wholesale manufacture and distribution of the product, retail customers will be able to sample and purchase products on premises in conjunction with a tour of the facility.
“I love it,” said planning board member Garrett Giberson. “I think it’s definitely an addition that Asbury Park needs. It furthers commerce and brings new people into the city that have never come.”
Giberson sees the artistic nature of a craft distillery as another way to boost the city’s lively arts scene.
“It’s an art form that is not seen like it was back many years ago throughout the country — it fits the bill in Asbury Park, it’s an arts and music town and it’s going to be a great addition,” Giberson said.
Planning board member Seresa Grillo sees the project as a unique way to show Asbury Park is on the front lines of unconventional business development.
“I voted yes because it sends a message to other developers and non-conventional businesses that Asbury Park is moving forward and willing to embrace new and credible ways of staying current in a competitive market,” she said.
The business also gives Karas a way to reconnect to family members of generations past — his grandfather distilled and sold bootleg gin in Paterson during the prohibition era of the 1920s.
“We’ll be doing it legally this time,” he said.
James Waters, former lead brewer at Lambertville-based River Horse Brewing Company, will be Asbury Park Distilling’s lead distiller.
“With the new state law change, I’m pleased that Asbury Park is willing to take on a new venture like this in the downtown area,” Waters said.
The craft distillery law enacted in December of 2013 significantly reduced the cost of a Class A manufacturing license from a yearly fee of $12,500 to $938 and entitles the licensee to manufacture up to 20,000 gallons of distilled alcoholic beverages annually.
Moving forward, city council will have to approve an ordinance to make the CBD amendment official. Members of the public will get to weigh in on the proposed change to the plan at a public hearing that will be scheduled before a final vote is taken.
Full site plan approval must also be given by the planning board. The distillery is also subject to state and federal approval processes.
————————————————————
Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
