business

About 100 people attended a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning for the new $20 million-plus destination brewery being built by Surly Brewing Co. in southeast Minneapolis.

At the close of the chilly festivities, those attending the event hoisted pints of the Brooklyn Center firm’s signature Furious and Bender brews in celebration.

Surly plans to develop the 8.3-acre site, once home to a potato processing factory, into a 50,000-square foot brewery, with an on-site bar, restaurant, beer garden and event center.

But in order to move forward, the Minnesota’s Prohibition-era law banning taprooms on brewery sites had to be changed. Surly led the way during the 2011 legislative session, and Gov. Mark Dayton signed the so-called “Surly Bill” in May of that year.

“The Surly way is not the easy way,” Omar Ansari, the company’s founder and president, said at the ceremony. “When we started we wanted to brew great beer and hopefully meet payroll. We had no idea what we started.”

Surly will retain its current Brooklyn Center operation after the new site opens, which is expected to be in late 2014. Tuesday’s event was attended by local government officials, as well as about 40 Surly employees.

Surly chose the site, which is near the University of Minnesota Transitway and the Central Corridor light rail line in Prospect Park, after looking at more than 80 prospective properties.

 

Janet Moore • 612-673-7752