Fort George Brewery plans to build on 10 acres in the North Coast Business Park.

Fort George Brewery is finalizing a deal with Clatsop County to expand into the North Coast Business Park in Warrenton.

The brewery — the first tenant in the 162-acre park across from Costco — plans to purchase about 10 acres for $700,000.

The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the agreement Wednesday night. After negotiating in executive session for the past couple of months, the deal is expected to officially close within a week.

Chris Nemlowill, co-owner of Fort George, declined to comment until the deal closes on why the brewery chose the location and what it has planned for the lot.

“I will feel more comfortable talking about it once it closes,” he said.

As part of the agreement, the county is offering Fort George four wetland mitigation credits, worth up to $100,000 each, that are necessary for development in the business park.

Last year, wetland mitigation threw a wrench into the county’s plans to develop the park. Just as the county was hoping to take offers from interested businesses, it learned no mitigation has been done on any of the site’s wetlands.

A 1,200-page application for the entire park — submitted in October to the Oregon Department of State Lands and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — could take 18 months for approval, pushing development into 2017.

Fort George will submit its own application for the specific 10-acre lot. The smaller application can be processed within a year.

The county peeled four credits out of its application and is giving them to Fort George. Wetlands on other properties around Warrenton will be preserved to allow development in the business park.

The North Coast Business Park has become more attractive to businesses in the past year. The park was designated by the state as a Regionally Significant Industrial Area and was one of the reasons behind the Clatsop Enterprise Zone, where property tax exemptions can be offered to encourage new projects.

The park has sat vacant for years. In the mid-1960s, a large developer planned to build an aluminum smelting plant but the project was never built. The land was leveled, and wetlands grew. If the park was not on wetlands, county officials believe, it would likely already be developed.

Scott Lee, the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, complimented county staff Wednesday for sticking with the project and helping to bring in the park’s first tenant. Developing the park has been a top priority for the county.

“For a moment there, I was like, ‘We are in a pickle here,’” Lee said. “You have been able to hit a home run.”