Stem Ciders, , is expanding beyond Denver’s RiNo District with a new $7 million production facility and taproom in Lafayette.
Ground was broken Friday at the 8-acre site in Vista Business Park in southeast Lafayette. The facility — including a restaurant and demonstration orchard — is expected to open later this year, Stem Ciders spokeswoman Courtney O’Rourke said Monday.
by Eric Foster and Phil Kao, and the RiNo taproom opened in January 2014. But Stem has been searching for the past two years for room to grow.
“It’s been a long journey to find a new space to accommodate us,” O’Rourke said. “We wanted to build, we wanted something custom that we could grow into. We just couldn’t find anything in the Denver area.”
Stem Ciders will keep half its land for future expansion. The new facility will be 30,000 square feet and will include 15,000 square feet of production space and 5,000 square feet for a restaurant, taproom and retail space. The remaining 10,000 square feet will be leased to outside users.
O’Rourke wouldn’t say what kinds of companies might be looking at the for-lease space, but said Stem is “open to anything fun, with good people doing good things.”
In 2016, Stem Ciders produced just 7,500 barrels of cider compared to the 100,000 barrels that it anticipates after the expansion, which translates to roughly $43 million in annual sales, O’Rourke said. The company also anticipates $1 million in restaurant sales in Lafayette. The original tap room in RiNo will remain open.
According to the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder, Stem Ciders purchased the parcel of land for $500,000. The City of Lafayette estimates the taproom will produce $55,500 a year in sales tax and so waived permit fees and offered tax rebates, providing the cidery an incentive package of $183,250, O’Rourke said.
Stem Ciders plans to hire about 25 new employees and relocate 12 employees to Lafayette, O’Rourke said. The facility plans to save its remaining land for further expansion.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “We are delighted and grateful, and thank the community that has welcomed and allowed us to grow into brand we want to be.”