Forget Intelligent Fish.
Think Butternuts Beer & Ale.
That's what Schoharie County supervisors heard Friday.
The craft brewery, located in Garrattsville, near Cooperstown, is looking to expand, and they’re interested in the former Guilford Mills, said Middleburgh's Dennis Richards, chair of supervisors' Planning Committee.
The brewery, brews, markets, labels, and distributes its own beer, most of it in cans and with whimsical names like Butternuts Porkslap, Snapperhead, and Moo Thunder, seems to have found a niche in the burgeoning craft beer business, Mr. Richards said.
They also seem to have their funding in place, said Cobleskill Supervisor Tom Murray, another member of the Planning Committee, who said the expansion to Cobleskill would mean 60 jobs.
There is, however, a catch:
They would be asking the county to “partner” with them.
Mr. Murray said Butternuts would be putting $1.2 million into the former Guilford and investing another $910,000 in equipment to get the facility up and running.
Before the Intelligent Fish deal fizzled, those investors had agreed to pay $2.5 million for the building,
“We’d have to partner up with them and help them through the first three years because of the investment in the building,” Mr. Murray said, adding that they’d “like to move on the building before the end of the year...
"A proposal is "almost on the table," he said. "They've got a business plan, and a Cooperstown bank..."
"They're real people," added Supervisor Tony VanGlad of Gilboa.
Butternuts, however, isn’t the only fish on the line.
Mr. Richard said there’s also interest from:
• Organic Valley, an organic foods company.
Mr. Murray said the county was supposed to get back to Organic Valley with a price for raising the roof at Guilford and whether it’s even possible.
• A “food company.”
Supervisors are keeping the name of this one confidential, but Mr. Murray said it’s not a name people would recognize.
Supervisors were to meet with those representatives Monday.
• An internet start-up company, which is also looking for the county to “sponsor” them, Mr. Richards said.
“I’d like to hear what they’re talking about,” he said. “They could be the next Google or Microsoft...”
Butternuts would only need 200,000 square-feet and could share the space with another business, Mr. Richards added.
“There are some partnerships possible.”
Also, as SUNY Cobleskill’s gasification project gets up to speed, Mr. Richards said he wonders if there’s a place for Schoharie County there.
“If we’re going to have the training program at Cobleskill College, why not reach out to India and see if they’ll build them in the United States and in Cobleskill,” he said.
Supervisors backed Mr. Richards suggestion that this be the first project for new Economic Development head Mary Flood, who was to start Monday.
Other options for the Guilford building:
• Auctioning off the building and land, much as is done at tax sales.
• Selling the building for scrap, but keeping the site.
Mr. Murray, however, worried that as bare land, the site would be more difficult to market.
Supervisors have already authorized a 90-day extension to their contract with realtor Jack Kelly; Mr. Richard suggested trying a different realtor when that expires.
Esperance Earl VanWormer said he was excited by the possibilities, but suggested if things don’t pan out in two to three months, it’s time to get rid of the building.
Supervisors agreed.