WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau Economic Development Committee has given a $200,000 commercial rehabilitation loan to Central Time Distillery, a new business that will re-purpose the Hiawatha train depot on Grant Street.
Brewmeister Dan Weber and business partner Kimm VanDen Heuvel said they wanted a historic building to make the business unique to Wausau and landed on the station, which hasn’t been used by any group since 2015.
VanDen Heuvel said, “We really want to focus on the Wausau-centric nature of our business, bringing more tourism to the community and filling the void for something we currently don’t have.”
“We want to bring back the nostalgia of the train station, expose as much of it as we can. Some of that will have to happen in phases as it’s extremely expensive to remodel old buildings, but once you get it done it’s definitely worth it,” said Weber. “The train station itself would house our tasting room, and we would have a focus in craft cocktails and mixology. We’ll also be a small winery, as we can only serve what we make on site.”
This type of loan has been previously given to Downtown Grocery to help them rebuild their storefront after it was destroyed in a fire.
Central Time Distillery plans to be open this fall.
