Brockton, MA MassDevelopment has provided a $430,000 loan from the CARES Act Revolving Loan Fund to Brockton Beer Company, which is opening a new taproom at 121 Main St. Brockton Beer Co. will use the loan proceeds for working capital, equipment purchases, and other startup costs. This will be the city’s first craft brewery taproom.
The 2020 CARES Act authorized the U.S. Economic Development Administration to make grants to entities like MassDevelopment to capitalize revolving loan funds that make loans to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to creating an environment where small businesses like Brockton Beer Company are able to thrive,” said housing and economic development secretary Mike Kennealy, who serves as chair of MassDevelopment’s board of directors. “As we learned along our recent statewide tour of small businesses, which included a stop at the Brockton Beer Company, our cities and towns are looking for us to continue leveraging federal ARPA funds as proposed by the Administration to concentrate investments on main streets and in downtowns that will enhance the places these businesses want to set down roots and grow.”
“Craft breweries continue to stimulate local economies across Massachusetts,” said MassDevelopment president and CEO Dan Rivera. “Brockton Beer Company is choosing to invest in downtown Brockton, and we’re excited to see the impact that this brewery will have in bringing residents and visitors to the neighborhood. MassDevelopment was pleased to support this Black-owned business at every step of the process – from helping ‘prove’ the market for a destination brewery in the city through PROVA!, to cleaning up the vacant lot at 121 Main St. where a mixed-use facility with retail space could be built, to helping the company finance working capital, equipment, and more now that it has found its home.”
Brockton Beer Co. was founded in 2018 by four local friends from diverse personal and professional backgrounds. The company will be located on the ground floor of 121 Main St., a new mixed-use building with 48 units of housing and underground parking at a formerly vacant site. In summer 2018, the Brockton Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) Partnership temporarily activated the site through PROVA!, a pop-up multicultural arts and performance venue celebrating Brockton’s multicultural heritage through rotating local food vendors, craft beer selections, and live performances. Sales data collected from PROVA! (meaning “proof” in Creole) helped demonstrate a market for a destination brewery in downtown. Former Brockton TDI Fellow George Durante then worked closely with Brockton Beer Company to help get the company up and running and secure MassDevelopment financing.
The new mixed-use building at 121 Main St. where the brewery will be located previously benefited from a $26,000 grant from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund. MassDevelopment oversees the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, which helps to transform vacant, abandoned, or underused industrial or commercial properties by financing the environmental assessment and remediation of brownfield sites in “Economically Distressed Areas” of the Commonwealth. In 2017, after a Phase I site assessment identified four recognized environmental conditions at the site (including an underground storage tank on-site and off-site concerns associated with a former dry cleaner and other oil spills), Quincy-based community development corporation NeighborWorks Housing Solutions used a $26,000 site assessment grant from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to conduct a Phase II site assessment to further investigate and perform any necessary remediation.
“I could not be prouder of the founders of Brockton Beer Company as they continue to forge ahead bringing the ‘City of Champions’ its first craft brewery in the heart of our downtown,” said mayor Robert Sullivan. “I am extremely pleased that such a well-respected entity, like MassDevelopment, has elected to invest in a Brockton business that has already shown early signs of its imminent success.”
“We believe in Brockton and know what a successful brewpub in our city’s downtown will do for our community,” said Brockton Beer Company co-founder Ed Cabellon. “We’re grateful for all the support from so many along our journey so far and are excited to open our doors soon!”
MassDevelopment has helped many breweries in Massachusetts increase operations, create jobs, and provide an economic boost to cities and towns across the Commonwealth. The agency has provided tax-exempt bonds, loans, and guarantees for companies including Artifact Cider, Great Marsh Brewing Company, Idle Hands Craft Ales, Naukabout Beer Company, Newburyport Brewing Company, Night Shift Brewing, Notch Brewing, RiverWalk Brewing Company, Tree House Brewing Company, and more.