🔒Planned brewery complex to bring new life to defunct West Haven conference center

The New England Brewing Company (NEBCO) will be one step closer to relocating to West Haven with a revised site plan to be submitted to the city August 9.

NEBCO, maker of Sea Hag IPA, is a popular destination for beer enthusiasts that is currently located in Woodbridge. It sells beer to restaurants, retail outlets and in its taproom, which also hosts live music, beer tastings and beer education events.

The brewery last year received West Haven’s blessing to build a 52,000-square-foot facility on land owned by the city. It will include outdoor seating that faces West Haven beach.

The new site plan will slightly change and scale back the proposed building from two stories to one story, said Marty Juliano, NEBCO’s director of business development.

“Now, the building is about 50,000 square feet, and we modified the layout so that everything is on one floor,” Juliano said. “The back of the building used to be two stories with an upstairs deck. We scaled it back because we wanted to keep the height of the building down. It’s about 15 feet lower now.”

The design will include a production facility, event space, offices, restaurant, and outdoor patio, to be located at 6 Rock St.

The complex was designed by Kenneth Boroson Architects; Eclipse Development is the builder. NEBCO hopes to have room for 200 people in the taproom and another 50 in the event space; the patio will accommodate 150 patrons. The brewery hopes to receive approval for 110 to 150 parking spots, Juliano said.

Right now, the brewery’s Woodbridge location produces about 20,000 barrels of beer per year. The new location will allow NEBCO to nearly double that output.

The brewery hopes to offer food to complement the beer and has been in talks with area chefs about opening a restaurant out of the new kitchen. If that doesn’t work out, food trucks will be invited on-site.

In keeping with tradition, acoustic musicians will play in the taproom or event space and local bands like the Rum Runners or Free Play will perform on the last Friday of the month.

The brewery generally closes by 9 p.m.

“It’s a tremendous economic development boom for the area,” said state Sen. James Maroney, a Democrat who represents West Haven. “People will come to the brewery and then go out to other restaurants in the area. All the nearby restaurants, Turk’s, Jimmie’s, are not too far away and will benefit. The brewery will create new full-time jobs as well as seasonal work.”

Museum artifacts

Juliano estimates that some 350,000 people will visit the brewery each year, numbers based on estimates from similar tourism-oriented beer venues in the state.

The brewery will be located at the site of the former Savin Rock Conference Center and Museum and Learning Center. The building is dilapidated and hasn’t been used for years.

The museum held artifacts like the “Silver Fox” carousel horse from the original Savin Rock amusement park, as well as video documenting personal memories.

The brewery plans to incorporate a 100-foot glass display case that will showcase some museum items.

That’s one aspect of the project that’s raised some concern.

However, Beth Sabo, the original founder of the museum, says there’s no problem, and a committee is working to box up and label all the artifacts for safekeeping until the brewery building is complete.

The exhibit will have its own entrance, a necessity so that schoolchildren on museum tours will not have to enter the brewery to view the collection. Plans are also in the works for a gift shop.

“Some people are concerned that we are not going to have a standalone building [for the museum],” said Sabo, who is also human resources commissioner for West Haven, overseeing youth and senior services, among other duties. “This is the option we have at this point. The artifacts will be seen by thousands of people.”

No date has been set for the conference center demolition. The brewery is slated to open by July 4, 2023, Juliano said.