By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(May 7, 2020) Berlin officials approved two lease agreements within town limits at the mayor and Town Council meeting on Monday, April 27.

By Morgan Pilz
Berlin approved a lease agreement to rent out 7,000 sq. ft of the former Tyson processing plant for storage space to Burley Oak Brewing Co.

The council voted 4-0 to approve the lease of 7,000 square feet of warehouse space and 15 parking spaces at Heron Park to Burley Oak Brewing Co. Councilmember Elroy Brittingham was unable to attend the meeting that night.

Burley Oak Brewing Co.’s owner, Bryan Brushmiller, had asked Town Administrator Jeff Fleetwood several months earlier about renting the old Tyson processing plant for storage.

According to Mayor Gee Williams, Brushmiller has been the first person interested in “trying to generate revenue from those buildings until a permanent use is found or until they are leveled.”

“I’ve been working with the town and if we can rent the same space now, it will cost me almost twice as much, but if we can, if we need to rent space, it’s better to put money into the town’s pocket,” Brushmiller said.

Brushmiller has been interested in renting the space across from his brewing company for a few years, and after the town administration changed, he decided now would be a good time to request the lease.

“We thought, ‘Hey, that’s a great idea to put money in the pocket of the town and it’s benefiting us,’” Brushmiller said. “It’s a very symbiotic relationship where it’s benefiting the town with getting some revenue from a very derelict building.

“It’s important to have that buildings be used to have people around it, to have life in it because vacant buildings aren’t good for any town,” he continued.

Fleetwood said the town and Brushmiller had agreed to a lease of $1,500 a month for the building space and $400 a month for the parking space.

“On the north side of the processing building there’s a section of that building that has five bay doors that are nonfunctional as we speak,” Fleetwood said. “In my discussions with Bryan, what we think would be in the best interest of all … at his expense … he would install a functional garage door in the middle bay and then the 7,000-square-foot space that is immediately beyond that bay door is what he would utilize.”

Brushmiller expects to make some improvements as he creates usable space. Including the garage doors, he will also be putting in lights and other equipment, as the space has become what he says is “a concrete shell.”

The council also approved a lease agreement with Dr. Christopher Galuardi for additional parking space at the water tower on Route 346, with a rent of $400 a month. The space would allow Galuardi, who has had an office on Old Ocean City Boulevard for 14 years, to recruit another physician to his practice.

“My largest impediment right now to having him join the practice is the inadequate size of my parking lot,” Galuardi wrote in a letter to the council. “I only have 10 spaces and eight employees.”