State awards grant to help clean up site of Eden Park's new 'Brewery X'
Jesse Folk
CINCINNATI -- The plan to turn an old pump station into a brewery in Eden Park took another step forward this week.
Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes tweeted Monday that the so-called Brewery X was awarded a state grant to help fund renovations at 1430 Martin Drive.
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Rhodes said Ohio state officials awarded the project $736,520 for asbestos abatement.
The city is also seeking a grant of $490,380 from the Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund is being requested to perform the lead paint abatement.
In the citys grant application, officials said they plan to begin renovations immediately once the funds are secured.
Architect Jack Martin is leading the charge to turn the former pump and police station into a brewery.
Martin said the brewery would have a tasting room, beer garden and production facility.
The City Council approved the $5 million project in Oct. 2012. The pump station was built in 1894, and it has been vacant since 2004.
Martins company, Brewery X, LLC., has a 40-year lease on the property from the city with the intent to purchase it once the renovation is complete.
In Nov. 2013, then-City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. recommended the Council pass an emergency ordinance awarding the company with a grant for renovations totaling $750,000. That money would go toward fixing the roof and other structural repairs.
The pump station was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980, along with Music Hall and City Hall.
The reason the project is called Brewery X is because it was originally designated Station X by the city when it was taken over by the Cincinnati Police Department.
Its expected that the project could create more than a dozen jobs. The city and Martin hope to open Brewery X by mid-2015.
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