Taps run dry on Heritage Brewery expansion; Hotel, homes still on track at Manassas ‘Cannon Branch’ addition

MANASSAS — Heritage Brewing no longer plans to build and operate its anchor brewery at the Landing at Cannon Branch.

The $9 million, 35,000 square-foot brewery was going to be the company’s second location and the centerpiece of the mixed-use development just off Godwin Drive in Manassas.  Retail shops, office space, a Tru by Hilton Hotel, and 294 condominium and townhomes are still planned for the site, with the homes already under construction.

According to a December 2018 report from property developer Buchanan Partners, Heritage Brewing faced financial troubles that caused them to put their plans on hold. According to the report, “To date, the developer has invested $420,000 and three years of time on this project.”

Heritage Brewing was named to be a recipient of a $250,000 state agricultural grant in August 2017 by then Governor Terry McAuliffe who attended a groundbreaking for the facility. Since the brewery won’t open, Heritage won’t see any of that cash, officials say. The brewer was to create 66 jobs as a condition of the grant.

Manassas Economic Development Director Patrick Small confirmed the brewer won’t expand at “Cannon Branch,” and with Heritage out, the “city and developer are actively seeking tenants for the retail and office portions of the project.”

If Heritage’s plans had stayed on track, it would have entered a crowded brewery market. The Landing at Cannon Branch sits near the $8 million Farm Brew Live complex just across the city line at Innovation Park in Prince William County. Its brewery, 2 Silos, said it planned to make more than 15,000 barrels of beer per year when it opened in 2017.

The Landing at Cannon Branch is the last large, developable piece of property in Manassas. It’s billed as waterfront property because it sits alongside a large stormwater retention pond next to Routes 28 and 234 (Prince William Parkway).

With the region’s wet weather over the past year, construction for a second phase of the housing project was bumped back several months. Buchanan Partners requested a six-month extension of the construction start date for lots 28 through 106, extending the construction extension through September 26.

The Manassas Economic Development Authority voted to grant the extension at its meeting Tuesday, February 19.

City officials remain excited about the 100-room Tru by Hilton hotel. The final design plans are in and the project is expected to close in April, Small said.