Wausau Mayor Discusses Closing of Bull Falls Brewery

Thursday, June 15th, 2023 -- 10:01 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) -The Wausau City Council has given the OK for Bull Falls Brewing to sell off its assets including brewing equipment and its building.

Mayor Katie Rosenberg says they needed to step in because of a previous loan with the city that has an outstanding balance of about 300 thousand dollars.

"So, we wanted to move ahead and approve that, so they could move ahead, so we could get that cost recovery. We don't know how much their personal property is worth, but we'd like to recover as much of that as possible."

She says if the auction of the equipment doesn't fetch enough to cover their outstanding debts to the city, there will be other ways that the taxpayers can be made whole.

"The real estate will also at some point, I'm assuming, change hands, be sold, something like that. So, we'll be looking, if the personal property doesn't cover the debt, we'll be looking at the real estate as well."

She says if the auction doesn't fetch enough to cover the outstanding debt, the former owners of the brewery will still be held responsible.

"We would like to recover as much as possible. Ideally, all of it. So, we'll continue working with Bull Fulls and their attorneys and our attorneys, so we can do just that. "

She says she does hope that buyers will continue to operate the brewery, but that's out of the city's control.

"That's down the road. We are always willing to have that discussion. But I couldn't tell you what the appetite for another brewery is by this body other than they want to make sure they recover the cost of what the taxpayers loaned out."

She says it's sad to see the Brewery go, because it is a well-known brand around the area.

"Council was really excited to support this and they, you know, Bull Falls made a name for themselves and they put us on the map too."

Owners of Bull Falls announced plans to sell the popular brewery earlier this year. The facility and its associated equipment are currently listed for auction through New Mill Capital- with a week long auction beginning July 19th.

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