VALPARAISO | The windows on the lobby of the new North Coast Distributing office in Valparaiso will look like the bubbly, amber liquid the company delivers.
Preliminary plans for the 210,000-square-foot warehouse and office were presented to the city's Site Review Committee on Tuesday. The office portion is two stories, 28,000 square feet, with a lobby are enclosed by the "beer glass." The lobby also will have another feature: a horse-driven beer wagon.
Company Vice President George Douglas said the early-1900s beer wagon was discovered on the Internet at a farm in Wisconsin. The wagon's history still is being researched.
North Coast is relocating and expanding its facilities from Silhavy Road to a 35-acre site on the west side of Ind. 49 across from the Porter County Sheriff's Department. Douglas told the committee about 18 acres to the north will remain untouched, and the engineers hope to use an existing 20-acre pond for drainage.
The warehouse will include drive-through facilities for loading trucks, and there will be a 10,000-gallon fuel tank to allow fueling on site. Total cost of the project is expected to be about $15 million, Douglas said.
Valparaiso is expanding its tax increment financing district to include the site so the city's Redevelopment Commission can use the TIF revenue to pay for building a road for the business and extend water and sewer lines to the site from the Aldi's warehouse to the southwest.
The resolution to expand the TIF was presented to the city's Plan Commission on Tuesday and is expected to be presented to the council March 28. It then goes back to the redevelopment commission for a hearing and final approval April 13.
The site review committee asked for a second presentation after North Coast's plans are completed. North Coast's goal is to break ground in May and be ready to move in by the end of the year.
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