Microbrewery planned in downtown Greensboro

[cityboi]

Microbrewery planned in downtown Greensboro

10-15-03

From Staff Reports

Posted 1:05 p.m.

GREENSBORO -- Work has begun on the Hamburger Square Brewhouse at the corner of South Elm and McGee streets in downtown Greensboro.

Chris Lester and Kayne Fisher announced details today for the restaurant, which should open next spring. Lester and Fisher own Old Town Draft House and Tap Room in Greensboro and First Street Draft House in Winston-Salem.

The renovation and business venture is a $2 million investment in downtown.

The duo partnered with Daniel Craft of Craft Insurance Group and John Lomax of Lomax Construction to purchase and renovate the 11,000-square-foot building. Crews are working to expose the interior brick and wood beams and renovate the original wood ceiling on the first floor.

Brewing equipment on the first floor will be encased in glass, and customers will be able to watch the brewing process. The restaurant will occupy the first two floors and an outside patio. Restaurant offices will occupy the third floor.

J. Hyatt Hammond is the project architect.

The restaurant will be in the former J.W. Jones Grocery at 345 S. Elm St. It most recently was home to Paisley Pineapple.

"This is a very exciting development for downtown Greensboro," said Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc. "This is both a quality and unique restaurant to add to very fine mix of dining and entertainment choices that have arrived in the last few years."

[Guest donaltopablo]

Micro Brews, almost always good stuff.

[cityboi]

Thats what I heard. I've been to that big one in Charleston, SC and it was nice. Now that big projects such as the ballpark are underway, developers are taking more risk and thats what we want to see.

Does Atlanta have a downtown Brewery? I didn't notice when I was down there in August.

[cityboi]

Here is the full article:

Brewhouse to join Hamburger Square

10-16-03

By AMY JOYNER, Staff Writer

News & Record

GREENSBORO -- A historic downtown building, which has been a wholesale grocery store, saloon, hotel and brothel, will get a new life as a restaurant and brew pub.

Kayne Fisher and Chris Lester, who own three other restaurants and bars in the Triad, plan to open Hamburger Square Brewhouse in March, after extensive renovations to an 11,000-square-foot building at 345 S. Elm St. The three-story brick structure was built in 1895. It is in the Hamburger Square area of downtown at Elm and McGee streets, once a hub of industry and commerce in Greensboro.

Most recently, the building housed the Paisley Pineapple Restaurant and Sofa Bar, which closed after two fires on June 1.

The two restaurateurs, along with building owners Daniel Craft and John Lomax, plan to spend about $2 million to restore the building. They will transform the first level into a 70-seat restaurant with additional patio seating, while the second floor will house a bar. The brewery will be at the rear of the restaurant, and patrons will be able to watch ale-style beers being made.

The third floor will be office space for the restaurant owners.

"Our goal is to feel like the brewery has been here since the building was built in 1895," Fisher said. To that end, construction crews are saving wood, tile, molding and other materials as they gut the building for use in the renovation.

Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., said the planned restaurant and nightspot will "add to the excitement of downtown" and serve as an anchor for the Elm-McGee corner.

The restaurant will be open daily for lunch and dinner, and the upstairs bar will stay open until 2 a.m.

"It's going to be great for downtown nightlife," said building owner Craft of Craft Insurance.

Lester and Fisher, who own Old Town Draught House and the 1740 Taproom Grill in Greensboro and Winston-Salem's First Street Draught House, said the new restaurant will be similar to their others.

"We are going to serve comfort food, everything prepared here fresh," Fisher said. The menu will include hamburgers, sandwiches, pizzas, steaks, wrap sandwiches, appetizers and other bar food with a "gourmet twist," he said.

"We try to bring just a little flair to your run-of-the-mill bar food," Fisher said.

Hamburger Square Brewhouse will serve six signature brews, as well as a variety of other draft and bottled beers.

Microbrewery to open in downtown Greensboro

Matt Harrington

The Business Journal

Downtown Greensboro will get its first brewery as the owners of three Triad bars and restaurants plan to open a fourth, Hamburger Square Brewhouse, at 345 S. Elm St.

Chris Lester and Kayne Fisher made public their plans today for an 11,000-square-foot brewery and restaurant that will entail a $2 million investment. J. Hyatt Hammond is the project architect and Lomax Construction is the contractor. The brewhouse should be open by March.

Lester and Fisher also own Old Town Draft House and the Tap Room in Greensboro and First Street Draft House in Winston-Salem. The setup of Hamburger Square will be similar to those three, but with the added capability of brewing its own beers.

The two-story restaurant will also feature a game room and patio seating. Unlike Red Oak in Greensboro, Hamburger Square will brew ales, not lagers.

"We are extremely excited, not only about the renovation of this building, but about the business coming in," said Ray Gibbs, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc. "We've been looking for this type of business for five years."

The building that will be home to the brewhouse has had several uses since it was constructed in 1895, including a saloon, pool hall, wholesale grocery store and even a brothel, said insurance executive Daniel Craft, one of the owners of the building. It most recently housed the Paisley Pineapple restaurant and sofa bar.

Along with the announcement of the brewhouse, Adam Fisher, transportation engineering manager for the city of Greensboro, discussed changes to downtown traffic patterns, including changing parts of Davie, Bellemeade and Lindsay streets from one-way to two-way traffic. The south end of Greene Street is already planned to go two-way.

Those projects should be "well under way" by this time next year, Fisher said. The city is also looking into putting more "angled" on-street parking along downtown streets, addressing a common complaint of downtown businesses.

[G W North]

The city is also looking into putting more "angled" on-street parking along downtown streets, addressing a common complaint of downtown businesses.

Meh. Parallel parking is great. Angled parking sucks.

[cityboi]

Greensboro use to have alot of angled parking downtown, but then they got rid of most of them. The only angled parking that exisit in downtown today is on Commerce Place.

[Guest donaltopablo]

Does Atlanta have a downtown Brewery? I didn't notice when I was down there in August.

None DT that I can reclal, but we have at least one in midtown I know of and several in Buckhead. Most of them brew offsite, with only a handful actually producing in the resturant/bar, although none of the ones I'm thinking of are chains.