The West Virginia Economic Development Authority has voted to provide a sliver of $70 million in financial incentives to a whiskey barrel manufacturer identified as a high-impact development project.
The project intends to keep 230 employees and hire 30 more through a $2 million forgivable loan and a $2 million repayable loan over 15 years.
The loans will benefit West Virginia Great Barrel Company, which state officials claim has invested more than $83 million in the last seven years. The company manufactures whiskey barrels and operates in multiple counties.
“It’s growing and an important part of our economy in several counties, including Greenbrier, Monroe, Nicholas, and Boone. And we believe this is an excellent way to spend the remaining couple million dollars from this high-impact project, which was approved several months ago,” said Mike Graney, acting secretary for the state Department of Economic Development.
Gov. Jim Justice requested the full $70 million in high-impact development project incentives last June.
The barrel company development was first announced in Greenbrier County in 2017.
At that point, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved a $6 million loan for West Virginia Great Barrel Company to purchase equipment and land.
In 2017, state officials announced that the project had received an additional $6 million in bank funding. When combined with funds from private investment sources, the total project funding was estimated to be more than $30 million.
