The proverbial red tape surrounding Deep Eddy Vodka’s expansion to Buda has officially been cut as an agreement for the new 194,000-square-foot distillery was finalized earlier this week.
“Everything is a go at this point,” said Buda Mayor Todd Ruge.
The city of Buda announced in September that Deep Eddy Vodka was making the move following the passage of an incentives package by the Buda City Council. Deep Eddy, which is owned by the Heaven Hills brand, a Kentucky sprits company, currently has a production facility and tasting room in Dripping Springs.
However the move was premature and the finalization of the agreement came only late last week according to Deep Eddy officials.
“We will begin using the facility in January to store product, but production will not begin at that facility until May,” said John Scarborough, president of Deep Eddy Vodka.
In addition to the Buda City Council passage of incentives, the Hays County Commissioners court also had its own incentive package that was finalized at an October 18 meeting.
Ann Miller, executive director of the Buda Economic Development Corp. (EDC) thanked the court for its action and said that this move allows Deep Eddy to grow both now and for the foreseeable future, and ultimately keeps the business in Hays County.
Adrianna Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership, shared Miller’s sentiment of appreciation of the court’s decision, citing specifics of the agreed upon incentives for the county.
“This is an important expansion and retention for Hays County,” Cruz said. “The net benefit to the county at the end of 10 years will be $878,000 and an additional $1.1 million going to the school district.”
On the piece of land that Deep Eddy will renovate stands a building that has been dormant for years. Ruge believes that once the distillery completes its improvements, the property value will increase, drastically increasing the amount of property tax the city receives.
“The thing most exciting to me is the benefit to the school district,” Ruge said. “It will greatly benefit from this additional tax revenue that’s going to come out of this.”
Although original estimates called for 20 jobs, Scarborough said it is very likely that they will hire many more than 20 over the next decade.
“I would assume a lot of the initial jobs will be the current workers they have in Dripping Springs,” Ruge said. “As they expand and the operation grows, more people will be added.”
