Engine 15 Brewing Company: Downtown's Newest Brewery
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/3639772765_QBhjh3x-M.jpg)
Craft breweries are breathing a breath of fresh air into aging urban districts across America. Is it possible that Engine 15 Brewing Company can stimulate a renaissance along Myrtle Avenue? Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a tour of downtown's newest brewery, the site's history, and future plans.
Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-nov-engine-15-brewing-company-downtowns-newest-brewery
Very cool to see the history, revival and reuse of these wonderful buildings. There is so much character that is not built today.
Very cool article. And a nice business for the outskirts of Downtown.
So what are they going to do with the Klutho building? Possible event space? Maybe I missed it in the article if it was mentioned.
Not trying to be accused of awakening a dead thread, but does this project still have any life to it?
Quote from: JPalmer on November 04, 2015, 03:33:49 PM
Not trying to be accused of awakening a dead thread, but does this project still have any life to it?
Yeah it's pretty much built out. I'm going to an event there next month.
It's been going for a while now for proivate events and stuff. Last I heard was that they had some issues with the permitting or whatever to sell beer on site so they haven't opened the taproom yet.
because there is a lot of people around there. ???
Considering it's less than a mile from the fastest growing core neighborhood, I'd say there are plenty of people. IMO E15 makes the best (or most consistent) beer in town behind intuition.
Quote from: jcjohnpaint on November 04, 2015, 04:50:30 PM
because there is a lot of people around there. ???
E-15's new location is no farther from civilization than Bold City was when it opened and there are countless examples nationally of a brewery being farther from a "good area".
Breweries require very high ceilings, large expanses of open floors, loading docks....WAREHOUSES. You're not going to find a suitable warehouse inside of San Marco Square. Ben Davis passed on Aardwolf's location because the warehouse was too small and he probably outgrew his current space after 3.5 years in business. Bold City has luckily been able to expand in their current location, but they will soon push that building to its limits. Just because they have tap rooms and people congregate there, don't confuse a production brewery with a brew pub or a bar. They are industrial operations that need industrial sized spaces that can often only be found in less popular parts of town.
Quote from: JPalmer on November 04, 2015, 03:33:49 PM
Not trying to be accused of awakening a dead thread, but does this project still have any life to it?
Yes, happy to report there is a lot of life in this project. The issues are a couple fold:
It's zoned Industrial Light, which basically doesn't allow any kind of out door use at all. We tried a couple different ways to get there using variance application, administrative deviation, to no avail. Bottom line we are currently doing a PUD rezoning, which is a long and political process that includes a couple of trips through the entire city council. Hopefully we can convince the powers that be that this is a good thing for the area and that we have a plan for the property that will work (i.e. parking, hours, etc.) and we can get this approved.
In short my vision for the property is a tap room and bier garden in/around 633 which is the brewery building and an event space in 601 which is the Klutho. I didn't know it was a Klutho building when I bought it but when I found out I felt like I owned a piece of art. I want to take our time and do this right, get all the ducks in a row so to speak and really have something that works well for our business and the community.
I think this little strip of Myrtle between Beaver and Forest streets is really unique in our city. It has a number of old warehouse buildings with a lot of character and it's proximity to downtown and other developments makes it uniquely suited for a warehouse district type of redevelopment. Without a huge budget most of these buildings could be reused as venues for music or other entertainment, spaces for non profit organizations, etc. When we get ours up and running it will bring people down there, once that happens I am confident others will see the potential and hopefully come along.
I had, now have high hopes for this project. Glad that you are moving forward with it. Good luck and anybody should be able to see the potential here. Having visited other cities, where a project such as this, in an area like this, was the catalyst for the area in need of a revitalization.
Sounds as if the outdoor permitting issue with city zoning is a great example of what is wrong with JAX city government. A variance should have been a good way as it is zoned light industrial (not residential). Until these things change I am afraid the core will continue to move sloooooooooowly.
All of this sounds very promising, I'll be glad to see this all come to fruition.
After scouring google maps yesterday, this isn't very far from Brooklyn at all. The connectivity is broken up by the railroad/I-95, but it's less than 1 mile from Unity Plaza. When Bold City first opened, it was .5 miles from Kickbacks, which was still in the process of turning itself around and the remainder of King Street only had Walker's Wine Bar and Park Place as far as evening activity is concerned. Since E-15 will have a larger scale and will be its own complimenting uses, I think this will be just fine.
QuoteJacksonville Beach brewery Engine 15 is making progress on opening a Downtown taproom, according to head brewer and owner Luch Scremin.
The brewery filed a planned unit development with the city on Friday, which will begin the process of rezoning its Myrtle Avenue property, which is zoned as light industrial. Engine 15 already has a brewing facility at the property.
Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/blog/morning-edition/2016/01/engine-15-moves-ahead-with-downtown-taproom-files.html
very good news