Engine 15 Brewing @ Myrtle Ave. and Beaver St.

[02roadking]

Engine 15 Brewing is planning to build a new brewery, tap room, outdoor beer garden and cannery at Myrtle Avenue and Beaver Street. Luch Scremin, co-owner of the Jacksonville Beach brewery, said he hopes to have the brewery open by next February.
http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/food-and-dining/2013-11-20/story/engine-15-plans-brewery-tap-room-myrtle-avenue

[Captain Zissou]

Interesting location. During the day, thats a fine area. At night, I've had some white knuckle drives through there.

[Captain Zissou]

This should also illustrate, the lack of existing stock in downtown proper for this type of use; as well as show that Intuition's Forest street location isn't a crazy idea.

[river4340]

As Scremin said, were people walking around at that neighborhood at night before Bold City and Intuition opened? Breweries, if they do much distribution at all, pretty much have to be in light industrial areas.

[thelakelander]

Wow. I love the location.  I've always felt that warehouse district has been largely ignored.  This is a great step for bridging the gap between the farmers market and downtown.

[Tacachale]

This is great news for Engine 15 and the local brewing scene. River's absolutely right. Distribution breweries are more than a bar, they need a suitable space to brew, keg, bottle and ship their beer if they want to distribute, so naturally they're going to gravitate toward industrial zones. In fact, it's difficult not to if you want to make any real quantity.

This is pretty typical in craft breweries across the country. Locally, Bold City, Intuition, Mile Marker and even Aardwolf have proven it works locally. In fact, as a formerly regular patron of the Jax Beach location, this one is only minimally less accessible, and much more suited for the industrial aspects of a brewery.

[thelakelander]

Here are a few images of the site from a photo tour of the district we did a couple of years back.  The red brick building was originally a warehouse for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.  Now known as PPG Industries, the Pittsburgh-based Fortune 500 company is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiberglass.





Myrtle Avenue Warehouse District Tour: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jul-myrtle-avenue-warehouse-district

[Wacca Pilatka]

Wow. I love the location.  I've always felt that warehouse district has been largely ignored.  This is a great step for bridging the gap between the farmers market and downtown.

Thinking about a model for this neighborhood - does the Strip District in Pittsburgh have a brewery?

[goldy21]

Luch is a great guy.  Hope he succeeds with this investment.

BTW, Luch is short for Luciano.  It's pronounced "Looch".

[acme54321]

Here are a few images of the site from a photo tour of the district we did a couple of years back.  The red brick building was originally a warehouse for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.  Now known as PPG Industries, the Pittsburgh-based Fortune 500 company is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiberglass.





Myrtle Avenue Warehouse District Tour: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jul-myrtle-avenue-warehouse-district

I was looking at this building a couple of months ago.  25k sq ft for $150k,  Built in 1910 I think, pretty cool.

[thelakelander]

Wow. I love the location.  I've always felt that warehouse district has been largely ignored.  This is a great step for bridging the gap between the farmers market and downtown.

Thinking about a model for this neighborhood - does the Strip District in Pittsburgh have a brewery?

East End Brewing Company has a popular bar/booth at the Strip district's public market.  Models for this area would include places like Pittsburgh's Strip District and Detroit's Eastern Market. 

Currently, it's a wholesale/market district with a mix of existing industry and several underutilized structures waiting for new uses. In the 1.5 mile stretch of Beaver between King Street and I-95, there's already a farmers market, recycling plants, meatpacking, seafood processing, coffee roasting, milk/dairy processing facilities, etc. in operation. Start filling in the underutilized spaces with places like Engine 15 and you have a real authentic atmosphere in the making that complements the rest of the urban core.  As the underutilized spaces are cleaned up and occupied, the area won't seem as scary as it is today to some.  Then riding the S-Line Greenway will start to make sense to a lot of people. One of the benefits of being ignored by most downtown advocates and civil leaders for decades is that this area still has a lot of old funky affordable spaces still standing.

[Scrub Palmetto]

It's nice to see some activity in the vicinity of my avatar! 

[river4340]

Maybe the most telling line in the story:

Scremin said he had to double the brewing capacity within the first year, as has every other brewery in Jacksonville.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Those of you who are criticizing location need to get out more.  (and even my 'getting out' is pretty minimal)

Cigar City Brewery - Tampa - light industrial, near nothing, not exactly in Ybor City

Florida Brewery - Orlando - light industrial, near nothing, not exactly on Independent Dr.

Sweetwater Brewery - Atlanta - light industrial, they were the start of some 'organic' growth in a not so sketchy area, but again, nothing was there but some HVAC/Plumbing outfits when they started.

I'm seeing a trend.....

[Intuition Ale Works]

I look forward to the day when our city officials figure out how to embrace and support our local brewing scene.

Then, as my 3 year old would say, we would kick infinity butt!