You may have read that Core Brewing & Distilling Co., the rapidly growing Springdale craft brewery, has abandoned its plans for a distillery in Fort Smith. The Southwest Times Record quoted Core VP Jay Richardson as citing “funding issues with the chamber,” as in Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Richardson tells Whispers, however, that it wasn’t so much a failure to deliver on tax breaks and other incentives as it was a big push by a yet-to-be-named city in east Arkansas to attract the distillery and companion cooperage (a maker of barrels and casks).
“There were some challenges there,” Richardson said of the Fort Smith location, the 36,050-SF former Times Record printing plant at 1000 Rogers Ave. “But bottom line, it really came down to we just got a phenomenal deal from this other city that we just couldn’t walk away from. That was really the big crux of everything.”
The phenomenal deal includes, he said, tax incentives. But, he continued, “we’ve also got some private investors who want to be a part of that, so there’s a package that the guys from this area have put together that is so enticing you can’t walk away from it.”
“There’s some significant investment being made just to get us there,” Richardson said.
Late last year, Core increased its equity offering to $4.2 million, all of which has been sold, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. That’s up from $3.5 million in January 2016.
Core, founded by Fort Smith native Jesse Core, has two locations in Springdale and pubs in Fayetteville, Rogers, Fort Smith, Bentonville, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and North Little Rock.
As for the new location of the distillery, Richardson said: “We are close to confirming that location. We’ll probably make an announcement in the next week or two. But we’re almost there.”