Craft Beer Supplier Plans New Century City Facility
Modern industrial building would be second new building developed in central city business park.
A field at the former Tower Automotive factory site in Century City includes the parcel at 3055 W. Hopkins St. Photo taken July 26th, 2018 by Jeramey Jannene.
Craft Beverage Warehouse (CBW) is looking to develop a new facility in the Century City business park near N. 31st Street and W. Capitol Drive.
The company, which supplies direct-to-can digital printing to breweries and other beverage manufacturers, is looking to expand its presence in the area as it scales up its operation.
CBW already occupies approximately one-third of the 53,160-square-foot Century City 1 building, the first new building constructed on the 84-acre former A.O. Smith site.
The company, founded in 2020, is now looking for more space to grow.
“We basically don’t have any warehouse space left. We do all of our manufacturing in the current building,” said CBW president Kyle Stephens to the board of the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee on Thursday. “What the proposal is going to do is solve a lot of problems for us.”
The company is pursuing a structure similar in size and design to the first.
“We will probably use half for ourselves and then try to bring in small businesses,” said Stephens.
The new building would provide administrative and warehouse space, while the existing facility would be used for printing.
Stephens said the business started with five employees and grew to 11. “We are in the process of doubling our workforce because we are doubling our production capacity,” he told the board. “We expect to have at least 25 full-time employees when we open the warehouse and office space.”
The original building was acquired by an affiliate of Good City Brewing, Good Opportunity Fund I, LLC. Stephens, at the time, was vice president of finance and administration at Good City and a partner in the acquisition group.
Stephens and Michael DeGrave launched CBW in 2020.
“We started very, very local,” said Stephens. But business has spread across North America, though it keeps a local focus. “Eighty percent of our business is within 300 miles of Milwaukee.”
The idea of a second Century City modern industrial building was first introduced by then-Good City CEO Dan Katt in 2021. But an exclusive right to negotiate lapsed. Stephens’ group would be given a nine-month exclusive window to negotiate to purchase the 4.7-acre site at 3055 W. Hopkins St.
Existing tenants in Century City 1 include Planet to Plate‘s Hundred Acre urban farm, Klein-Dickert Glass, B83 Testing and Engineering and Thompson Safety.
The board unanimously endorsed the exclusive right to negotiate. A purchase agreement would require additional legislative approval.
CBW announced a production expansion in February.
Century City 1 Photos
Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
