TaMaryn Waters | Tallahassee Democrat

Proof Brewing Company is leaving Railroad Square for a south-side property that allows Tallahassee's first and largest brewery to boost its production capacity fivefold.

It's moving quarter of a mile away into the former Coca-Cola bottling plant at 1320 S. Monroe St. Built in 1948, the vacant facility allows Proof Brewing to expand production from 6,000 to 30,000 barrels per year and qualify for business incentives.

Owners Byron Burroughs, 47, and Angela Burroughs, 42, opened the Railroad Square location in 2012. Renovations to the Coca-Cola building begin this month and are slated to be completed by year end or early 2019.

Now, Proof Brewing is starting with a blank slate.

Hali Tauxe/Democrat

Inside the gray-colored building on Monday, the couple stood in the cavernous space set to be the production floor. Fifteen kegs were loaded on the back of a bright red F1 1950, an appropriate throwback vehicle considering the building's soda-to-beer operation.

This is where canning, brewing, aging and packaging of Proof's products will occur. They pointed out details of what's to come.

“If you look at our location at Railroad Square, it’s very small. It’s about 7,500 square feet. This room itself is about 22,000 square feet,” Byron Burroughs said. “We’re completely pinned in at the Railroad Square location.”

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He said relocation plans were expected to happen once Proof hit its 10-year projection. But skyrocketing growth sliced that time by a third.

It's too soon to know what will replace Proof at Railroad Square Art Park.

"We are currently in the process of looking into multiple options for how the building will be used after Proof relocates," said Lily Boynton Kaye, one of the park's owners. "Although the exact usage is not yet determined, we have some exciting possibilities in mind and intend for there to continue to be an outdoor seating area, hopefully larger and with expanded options for both food and beverage."

The South Monroe Street location is the second site where Coca-Cola once operated. It originally occupied a bottling plant in what is now the All Saints District.

On March 1, Proof owners gained title of its new building from DoubleTree Hotel owner and entrepreneur J.T. Burnette in a $960,000 land swap. In exchange, Burnette received the Whiskey House bar and liquor store that sits on less than half an acre on West Tennessee Street.

The 34,000 square-foot new brewery site will offer a tasting room; roll up doors will lead to the outside and onto a covered space surrounded by turf and a large decorative fenced-in area. Customers will sip year-round beers on draft, in addition to seasonal and pilot batch beer offerings.

Hali Tauxe/Democrat

The tasting room's floor will be ground down to the raw concrete and resealed. The dim, dark interior will be transformed into an industrial fusion of modern decor.

There also will be private dedicated event space that wasn’t possible at the Railroad Square site without reducing the beer garden. A full-service kitchen in the new space allows for catering and offering a new varied menu items produced by a local chef.

“Everybody that we’re bringing on and everybody that we’re partnering with is local,” Angela Burroughs said. “We really want to support the town that’s given us so much support.”

Proof’s redevelopment of an entire city block is the latest signal of change taking shape in “SoMo” along the South Monroe Street corridor leading to downtown and Cascades Park and steps away from Florida A&M University.

From FAMU Way, the new brewery is across from landmark restaurant Shells Oyster Bar and Happy Motoring, a bar and food truck hub that opened less than two weeks ago.

The Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality worked with Proof for a tax reimbursement package and other incentives.

Under the code name "Project Fox," staffers indicated Proof would receive a 70 percent reimbursement for development fees and an additional 70 percent reimbursement of the city property tax paid on the land, improvements and tangible personal property for seven years.

In addition, the county will provide reimbursement of the property taxes equal to the amount reimbursed by the city for the Target Business Program, estimated at $97,400, according to reports from the Office of Economic Vitality.

Officials said Proof's relocation will create 20 new jobs and falls under the area's light manufacturing category for business incentives. It's total $23 million economic impact includes 102 direct and indirect jobs.

OEV Director Al Latimer said Proof’s relocation is an example of a catalyst project in which companies are making investments near public infrastructure upgrades.

“As a catalyst project," he said, "they are serving as an additional motivator for others to capitalize on all of the positives of the public infrastructure and place making ... The amount of interest in properties on the south side is picking up."

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Its canning operation began two years ago. Proof's expansion also allows for more packaged brands in cans. Although the beer is only sold in Tallahassee-based Publix stores, Byron Burroughs said Proof is the grocer's top selling craft beer in the state.

"We think this is not only great for us but great for the city,” Byron Burroughs said. "We’re so thankful to Tallahassee for being supportive of us and the entrepreneurial spirit and allowing us to grow at the rate we’ve been able to grow."

Angela Burroughs jokingly said, "I feel like it’s been 10 years of an overnight success,” as her hand landed on her husband's shoulder. They've been married for a dozen years. She remembers Proof's early roots in 2007 as a small boutique liquor store on Tennessee Street.

Their daughter, Olivia, was born four years later. She spent countless nights nursing while finishing up payroll.

"She comes to work with us all of the time,” she said. “She’s been a team player ever since she was born.”

Added her husband: “She’s going to learn how to brew better than I can."