Bell's starting $5.2 Million Office Expansion

So apparently Larry and the boys (and girls) over at Bell's Brewery are starting to feel a bit cramped... not in the production side of things though. Bell's is starting a good sized office expansion project at the Comstock Township production facility, taking their office spaces from a measely 2,000 square feet to 17,000.

$5.2 million expansion moves ahead at Bell's Brewery in Comstock Township(Mlive.com)

A few excerpts from the article:

'"The office building is going to be super-econfriendly[sic, I assume he meant or said eco-friendly]," Bell said. "We are shooting for platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification."

Why?

"First of all, it's the right thing to do given energy costs these days," Bell said. "Our competitors are doing it. I think its good marketing for us. And I think our customers are looking for us to be an eco-friendly, responsible company."'

Not a bad idea Larry. Being "green" is the way to go... but they've still got some room to improve before they, in my opinion, are on par with Michigan Brewing Company's Bio-diesel generation and boiler setup, or even further to Sierra Nevada's VERY IMPRESSIVE efforts in green operations and environmental friendliness. Still, props to Bell's, every little bit helps!

"Beer production grew by more than 22 percent in 2008, to more than 111,000 barrels, Bell said, the seventh consecutive year of double-digit growth. The business anticipates an additional 20 percent growth this year."

DUDE. Double-digit growth for 7 years running? This is the kind of growth that corporations normally only dream of! I hope his anticipation for growth in 2009 does not get crapped on by the current state of the economy.

'Of the Comstock office expansion, Bell said, "One of the things that we're building is a large room to hold 150 people -- to get all employees together or so we can host meetings of master brewers or other professional organizations."'

"The maker of Oberon and Third Coast Old Ale has been in Comstock Township for about seven years but had its origins in downtown Kalamazoo in 1984."

Heehee... Bell's is as old as me ;-)

I've been a little disappointed with some things Bell's has done recently (Christmas Ale comes to mind...) but all-in-all, Bell's still produces some of my all-time favorite beers (ever had a year old Hopslam? AWESOME), and they are doing great things for the image of Michigan Beer, Craft Beer, and Beer in general. Cheers to Larry and cheers to Bells!