FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Economic Development Authority approved three loan requests at their monthly meeting on Monday night. One of those includes a new business project that could bring a brewery to Fairmont.

The first loan will be made to a startup business project if that business is allowed to purchase the sale of the Senior Center building located at 414 Downtown Plaza. A proposal has been sent to the City Council which it will review and decide on in its next meeting on Monday.

The owner is Joe Riemann, who recently relocated to Fairmont from Minneapolis. The business plan is to create a craft beer with the use of state-of-the-art brewing equipment. They will serve craft beers which will be named after the Fairmont chain of lakes and provide a menu featuring locally made brats, chips and dip.

“We’ve done all things Fairmont and I’ve really taken an interest in the historical society and all things Fairmont,” Riemann said. “I’m in love with the town and immediately we were thinking of ways to get rooted here and I have a passion for entrepreneurship, starting a small business and locally brewed beer.”

Riemann first noticed that there have been a lot of small towns in Minnesota that have breweries and Fairmont is not one of them. Riemann described the process as seamless and that there have been a lot of pieces in the project. He hopes to have the business open by July 4.

One of those pieces is funding. This project will require a variety of funding partners including the bank (First Farmers and Merchants), SMIF, Region 9 and FEDA. The request to FEDA is $67,125 for 10 years at 4.5 percent. FEDA’s loan would be used for a portion of the acquisition of the building, building renovations, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

For collateral, the lenders (other than the bank) are proposing a shared collateral agreement that would be pro-rated on portions contributed to funding, which would allow FEDA the highest share of collateral due to the highest loan amount. Collateral would include a shared second position on the building, equipment and a personal guarantee.

The second approved loan was a CARES Act relief loan to the Visual Vault LLP which is co-owned and operated by Jay and Tanya Doyscher. The business applied for a $25,000, 0 percent interest loan to assist with an offset of loss of revenue and help pay expenses as a result of COVID-19. The collateral of the loan would be the four pieces of equipment the owners would like to purchase for their business with the loan. It is unknown what the equipment is.

The third approved loan was a CARES Act relief loan to Our Story Productions. The business is 100 percent owned and operated by Jeff Rouse and the business applied for a $25,000, zero percent interest loan to assist with offset of loss of revenue and help pay expenses as a result of COVID-19. The loan would be used to restore and repair damages to 109 W 1st Street to utilize the building as an antique shop. Repairs include repairing the ceilings and floors, patching the roof and additional sprucing up to the building. Collateral will be a first position on the building located at 103 W 1st Street.

The next FEDA meeting will be on Monday April 12 at 4:30 p.m.