Equilibrium Brewery to Expand Operations in Middletown Acquires Former TD Bank Building in Downtown District
Real Estate In-Depth | March 20, 2019
MIDDLETOWN—The City of Middletown announced recently that Equilibrium Brewery closed on the purchase of the former TD Bank building located at 2 South St. in the City of Middletown on March 1. The vacant property has been owned by the city since 2011.
The Brewery purchased the property from the city for $650,000, of which $150,000 will be secured by a note and mortgage based on development goals that must be met, and once met the remaining $500,000 will be paid as follows by Equilibrium:
• $100,000.00 at closing
• The remaining $400,000.00 will be paid to the city by payments of $100,000.00 on the anniversary date of the closing for each of the next four years.
City officials stated that the project’s development goals include:
Equilibrium purchasing the property to expand Equilibrium’s current operations and existing facility that is located at 22 Henry St.
Within two years of the closing, Equilibrium will fully use the first floor and the basement of the building for brewery operations (beer production and tasting).
Currently located at 22 Henry St. Equilibrium Brewery plans to expand its brewing operations to keep up with demand. Plans for the second location include an enclosed pavilion and patio where can and bottle releases will be held. The pavilion will also serve as a tasting room, and future plans for the building include a possible restaurant on the upper floor. Equilibrium Brewery plans on investing more than $2 million into the project.
Equilibrium Brewery began its brewing operations in 2016. Since opening, its early morning can and bottle releases have drawn hundreds of craft beer lovers to the downtown. They have also been the recipient of various awards, such as “9th Best New Brewers in the World” by ratebeer.com, which pitted them against 6,400 breweries worldwide. The brewery was also awarded “Best New Brewer of 2017 by Sub- region.”
Due to this increased popularity, Equilibrium has decided to centralize its can and bottle releases at the new location, which will allow their patrons to congregate in an enclosed space rather than the parking lot.
“The City of Middletown is happy that Equilibrium chose our Downtown as their home, and are thrilled that they chose to expand here as well,” said Mayor Joseph DeStefano. “They have had such a positive influence on not just our downtown, but Middletown as a whole.”
Historically 2 South Street has been a bank location, originally Middletown Savings Bank and most recently a TD Bank branch. The bank closed in 2010 and the city acquired the property in 2011. City officials were pleased that the city is seeing another adaptive reuse project bring new life into a vacant building.
“This expansion will continue to create more jobs and repurpose another building in our Downtown,” said Maria Bruni, director of economic and community development for the City of Middletown.
Equilibrium’s original Henry Street project was awarded $204,000 in funds through Empire State Development in 2015.