Brewery, incubator project moves forward in downtown Muncie

MUNCIE – An effort to turn a former downtown laundry facility into a brewery and business incubator is moving forward with the sale of the building to a not-for-profit.

The former Cintas building at Madison and Jackson streets — empty in recent years as the business laundry company downsized and moved some operations — has been purchased by Sustainable Muncie Corp., a not-for-profit whose ties to the city include board members including Todd Donati, executive director of the Muncie Redevelopment Commission.

Donati said Thursday that the next step would be finding partners to redevelop the 80,000-plus-square-foot building.

In January, The Star Press first wrote about the city’s hopes for redeveloping the Cintas building, unused since 2012, into an incubator and business hub.

Scott Wise, who founded the Scotty’s Brewhouse chain in Muncie in 1996, said he would consider locating a brewery in the building.

On Thursday, Wise told The Star Press he’s still interested “if the economics of the deal are there for our company.”