STATEN ISLAND — Plans to build a Staten Island outpost of the Brooklyn Brewery could be scrapped as efforts are made to tempt the company upstate, a report said.
The Staten Island Advance said the state offered the brewery "a deal they can't refuse" to relocate the planned $70 million state-of-the-art brewing space from Staten Island to upstate.
“[Empire State Development] continues to work closely with Brooklyn Brewery on its planned expansion of manufacturing operation," Jonah Bruno, a spokesman for the EDS, said in a statement.
"State support is solely based on the merits of a project and its economic impact and any claim that we offer different incentives based on location is entirely false."
The famous craft brewery planned to build a 200,000-square-foot outpost on Staten Island's west shore, a facility which could brew 400,000 barrels of beer a year with a view to future expansion.
The brewery confirmed it was eyeing spots upstate but said it had not made a final decision yet.
"We are still looking at multiple sites including Staten Island," said Eric Ottaway, chief operating officer and general manager for Brooklyn Brewery, in a statement.
"We will make our final decision before year end."
In 2014, the brewery started to look for space outside of its home borough because of a lack of real estate in Brooklyn and an increased demand for its brews in 20 countries, according to a blog post.
It would also continue to use its Williamsburg home, business representatives have said.
It was awarded a $6 million grant from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Council that year for the Staten Island outpost.
The amount of the grant is tied to them building on Staten Island site and could change if they move it elsewhere, Bruno said.
The brewery originally sought space at the former site of a planned Nascar track in Bloomfield but the deal fell through, the Advance reported.
