"Richmond would not have been in a position to be the final choice had it not been for the incentives. ... It's a good use of city and state incentives to get us here," Spitz said.

Richmond's offer to build the brewery and lease it to Stone satisfied the company's strategy of investing its capital in an estimated $42.7 million in equipment and personal property instead of its own building, he said. "We don't have the capital capacity to go off and build our own building."

Spitz assured the council committee that Stone would not be in danger of defaulting on its lease obligations, which he said would be covered by the savings the company expects to accrue in reduced costs for shipping its beer to locations in the eastern U.S. "Our annual freight savings are going to pay for the lease," he said.

He also cited the growth in company revenue from $48.4 million in 2009 to $135 million last year and a projected $175 million to $180 million this year.

"The backing of the lease is the financial strength of the company," Spitz said in an interview after the meeting.