An older building in Jefferson County may just be turned into a new gathering place for the community.
Initiative Brewing in Redmond has plans to come to the town of Madras.
“It’s a great opportunity for the city to take an existing building and renovate it and rehabilitate it,” said Madras City Councilor Gabriel Soliz. “They are going to bring a lot of jobs into the community, which is great. I believe they said about 40 jobs would be coming in, which is massive as you know.”
This may be something the town has never had before.
“This will be to my knowledge the first time that a brewery has been in Madras, at least for their brew operations,” Soliz said.
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Madras City Council awarded Initiative Brewing $100,000 as part of an Industrial Space Grant.
They plan to renovate the old Jefferson County Public Health building.
“They foresee Madras as the next spot to really kind of explode in Central Oregon you know and really grow,” Soliz added. “They saw that as their opportunity to come in, be the brewery, take the initiative, as is in their name, so.”
The Redmond building will remain where it is, but a few things will change.
“From what they have told us, their intention would be to move just their brewery operation from Redmond to Madras,” said Soliz. “They would leave Initiative Brewing there, they would have the restaurant and bar, but all their brewery operations will come here.”
It wouldn’t just be operations in Madras, but also a restaurant and bar with an outdoor and indoor patio.
It’s expected to be open in fall 2023.
“We’ve got Redmond and Bend that are really close to us,” he said. “So it is easy to look there, so it is awesome to have businesses wanting to come here.”
Soliz also said the building is right on the main highway in Madras and is in a perfect spot to make an older building into something new and eye-catching for those looking to grab food and a beer.
