'They were pausing it': One of the largest alcoholic beverage companies in the world has put a hold on a St. Clair Township plant

Two years ago, they were raising a glass to a new business in St. Clair Township, but now it appears the cap has to go back on the bottle.

A sign heralding the coming of a new Diageo plant remains at the front of a property on Moore Line. However, last week company officials told St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar that plans for the new facility have been put on hold.

"We started a meeting, and they just came out and said that they were doing a pause. They were pausing it. They didn't say they were closing, or anything like that. They just said they were doing a pause for right now," said Agar.

UK-based Diageo is an international company and one of the largest producers of alcoholic beverages in the world. In 2022, the company announced that they had purchased the property just west of Highway 40 with the intent of building a new $245 million, carbon-neutral Crown Royal distillery.

The new operation would employee up to 100 people.

St. Clair Township Mayor Jeff Agar, seen on Nov. 20, 2024, is hopeful the Diageo facility will still move forward. (Gerry Dewan/CTV News London)

Diageo officials later switched their strategy, announcing the St. Clair Township location would be a warehouse, with a distillery possible in the future.

A revised site-plan approval process was still moving forward but is now up in the air.

According to Agar, "They said it was nothing St. Clair has done, or the province of Ontario. And I just want to say it, to be honest, our staff has been beyond for them."

Petrochemical companies continue to be the largest employers in the region. Agar saw the Diageo plant as an opportunity to diversify the economy, and believes that will still happen, "We can support any kind of business. We have hundreds of acres of industrial land. And it doesn't matter if something big, something small, or something in between."

Crown Royal bottles are filled at Windsor Diagio facility. (File)

He told CTV News that St. Clair Township communities continue to grow at a rapid rate and negotiations are currently underway with prospective employers, "We have a lot of pots in the fire and I'm pretty confident, down the road here, we're going to have some good news to share."

Agar says Diageo officials didn't give a specific reason for decision to pause the St. Clair project.