Home » Owensboro distillery getting $25M facelift, new name

Owensboro distillery getting $25M facelift, new name

Company creating 75 jobs

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear today joined TerrePURE officials for a groundbreaking and dedication ceremony to rename the Old Charles Medley Distillery in Daviess County. The distillery will be named the O.Z. Tyler Distillery in memory of the co-inventor of the TerrePURE distilling process.

dist-outsideThe company is investing $25 million to purchase and refurbish the nearly 80-year-old facility and will create up to 75 full-time jobs.

“This is an exciting time for our distilling industry and a historical milestone for Owensboro, and it is great to see historic facilities like this one coming back to life,” Beshear said.

TerrePURE is renovating and repairing buildings on the 28-acre site, as well as installing new equipment. The company initially announced plans for the project in May 2014.

TerrePURE is owned by South Carolina-based Terressentia Corp., which creates spirits for various retailers by using a patented technology that uses ultrasonic energy and oxygenation to rapidly mature it.

Charles Medley is the site of one of the oldest distilleries in Owensboro, having started operations in 1885. The facility on Distillery Road shut down more than two decades ago.

Kentucky’s legendary distillers produce 95 percent of the world’s bourbon, and the more than 5.6 million barrels of aging bourbon here outnumber the state’s population of 4.4 million. More than 15,400 jobs in Kentucky are connected to distillery-related enterprise, generating approximately $707 million in payroll, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association. “TerrePURE’s announcement is more evidence of our community’s continued progress and renewal,” said Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne. “This facility will be another player that will bring us back into the distilling business. Congratulations on behalf of the Owensboro Board of Commissioners to TerrePURE, and welcome to our community.”

To encourage the investment and job creation in Daviess County, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $1.2 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the term of the agreement through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.

KEDFA also approved TerrePURE for tax benefits up to $100,000 through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, which allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing equipment.

In addition, TerrePURE is eligible to receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies are eligible to receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. Last year, the Kentucky Skills Network trained more than 84,000 employees from more than 4,100 Kentucky companies.