Jared Otte

With craft brewers reportedly topping 11 percent of U.S. beer production in 2014, craft breweries are springing up in some very unusual places, from a jailhouse in Georgia to a fire station in Ohio. Indeed, the increasingly popularity of craft beer is creating new opportunities for old factories and otherwise abandoned spaces where high ceilings and open floor plans provide perfect settings for large and tall brewing, fermenting and packaging equipment.

Two great examples of this trend in the Bay State are Abandoned Building Brewery and Jack’s Abby Brewing.

Abandoned Building Brewery opened at the end of 2013 in an old mill known as The Brickyard in downtown East Hampton. Abandoned Building Brewery converted a 1910 building previously used by a plastic bag manufacturer into a small-scale brewery comprising 2,700 square feet converted into a brewery and tap room.

On a much larger scale, Jack’s Abby Brewing is renovating the former 67,000-square-foot Dennis Manufacturing building in Framingham’s historic downtown which will include a 5,000-square-foot restaurant and tasting room and is expected to open in late 2015.

More Than Just Cheap Space
Craft brewers are attracted to innovative spaces like abandoned factories for many reasons, ranging from low acquisition or occupancy costs to tax incentives and goodwill for revitalizing abandoned downtown spaces. But with the benefits come potential risks and hurdles: zoning ordinances and bylaws which regulate permissible uses for properties and the size and location of structures often to not allow or specifically provide for brewing beer as a use permitted by right – especially in industrial and historic districts.

Similarly, restaurants or tap rooms are sometimes not permitted in industrial areas. In addition, the proposed build-out of existing buildings, restaurants, tap rooms and the like may not comply with applicable dimensional guidelines or qualify for grandfathering if the abandoned buildings have been out of use for more than two years.

Beyond zoning, older structures may have historic environmental and title issues that could pose barriers to certain redevelopment projects and proposed uses. As heavy water users, brewers also are subject to environmental and economic hurdles related to water consumption and wastewater disposal. The local infrastructure and the building’s facilities must be able to support the water-related demands of a brewery and in order to discharge brewery wastewater, approvals from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may be required.

These hurdles, not to mention the time and challenges associated with obtaining federal and state brewers’ licenses and permits, can significantly impact the start-up time and costs required to open any new brewery operation.

Local Community Support: Priceless
Notwithstanding these zoning and regulatory challenges, the goodwill and community interest created by redeveloping abandoned buildings can go a long way to help define and differentiate a brand while fostering a loyal local customer base.

In the words of one now-famous TV commercial: the PR and branding benefits in connection with this aspect may just be … priceless.

Jared Otte is an associate at Bowditch & Dewey LLP and a member of its craft
brewery group.