Lenoir City brewery project in l

The former Lenoir City Utilities Board building downtown remains vacant two years after the announcement of a planned brewery, distillery and restaurant.

Lenoir City officials and business investors formally shared plans for Bussell Island Distilling and Brewing Company in July 2018 in front of the building. A ground-breaking ceremony followed in March 2019.

Tony Aikens, Lenoir City mayor, said no work has been done inside the building.

“Obviously, the city, we had a ground-breaking ceremony on there,” Aikens said. “Of course, they came down and they’ve been to the Committee of 100, they’ve been to the downtown businesses meetings in the morning when they had those and showed renderings of their plan. As far as I’m concerned, as of right today it’s still moving forward, but I have had some conversation with them and told them that I do want a get straight answer for sure.”

Aikens said the investment group is supposed to make a decision on the project “in the next couple weeks.”

“I think one of the major things is the coronavirus,” he said. “I think that, as we all throughout not just Loudon County necessarily but the United States, it’s really put a hurting on businesses, and so I’ve asked them to give me an answer and let’s move forward. If they’re going to come, let’s move on with it. ... Under the agreement they have until March of ‘21 to begin construction.”

Aikens said a six-month extension was given to the group about three months ago.

Kris Tatum, an investor, said in December that hopes were to have some part of the business open in the fourth quarter of 2020. At the time, he said a new name could also be considered.

“I gave them that six-month extension because we are in a pandemic and I understand businesses are hurting,” Aikens said. “Particularly small businesses or businesses that are wanting to start up. That is a huge investment to that area. You’re looking at at least $2 million probably, if not more, depending on if they went full blown the way they said they were going to. Could be $2 million to $5 million, so I want to give them every benefit of the doubt.”

If the project falls through, the property reverts back to the city.

“I’m disappointed that it hasn’t progressed any more,” Eddie Simpson, Lenoir City councilman, said. “As I understand it, they had a little trouble with one of their investors and their money didn’t come through on their end either. We have transferred ownership and everything to them, and they are coming, it’s just a matter of when. Probably three months ago we did a six-month extension on it. Part of that was because we didn’t have the fire hall moved out and they were having all new drawings done to incorporate that part of the building as well. Once we incorporated that it just made their whole thing work out better, too, and that’s what’s held it up probably for 90 days or so also. Sometimes it just takes time to get things worked out.”

Simpson remains hopeful the business as originally envisioned will become a reality.

“They’ve got all their investors in place now and we just need to move forward with it,” he said. “I hate for that building to sit there and deteriorate while we’re waiting on them. That’s something that unless we just say, ‘You’re out of it,’ and we don’t want to take a chance on that happening. These guys, they’ve already drawn plans and once they incorporated that fire hall and everything that changed that a little bit, we’ll be able to get a real good finished product out of it. They even had plans to use the jail that’s still intact downstairs.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Wampler, a business owner in downtown, hopes to have the building occupied even if the brewery group backs out.

“Thing about the delay is, of course as a merchant downtown, we’re very anxious for it, probably more than anyone else,” Wampler said. “Having a restaurant anchor, brewery, it’ll make a huge difference in the amount of people that are going to be downtown. I feel like COVID changed the dynamics on a lot of things. It’s my understanding that the people are still wanting to move forward. I haven’t heard financials on it yet. I do know, though, that all the legalities have been done, which is normally one of the most difficult things about getting a brewery/distillery.

“Of course, I saw where Loudon is getting theirs, but it’s on a much smaller scale,” she added. “This one I was talking to somebody, it’s millions of dollars, not just the building renovations but the equipment and the machinery that’s involved.”