^THIS.

About 4 years ago, my friend was looking into opening a bar there with light food options, but was told he would have to be cold food only which nixed the deal. They also had rules about music volume after 10pm, even inside, as well as no restrooms in the spaces, nor the ability to build out your own.

It was going to be a 1920's speakeasy style lounge with old fashioned cocktails, jazz, vintage bar ware, etc. Would have been a tremendous fit in that neighborhood, but they nixed it. I was really bummed because I was going to manage the place. :hell:

With high rents and little flexibility, I'm not surprised it is still vacant, though I'd assumed they had relaxed a bit and just weren't renting due to economy/location.

Van Buren, Roosevelt, 1st Street, Central, etc. would be terrific retail thoroughfares.

Nice. I don't even drink, but I'm happy to see this. However the location seems kinda stinky, it would've been nice to have it in one of the many large warehouses directly south of downtown a la what you see in Denvers LoDo.

I agree, but at 15,000 sq ft I don't know of any places that have the room. These breweries also need high ceilings to acommodate the equipment.

It's a 10 minute bike ride from my house, so I'm ok with it, but it would have been fantastic if they'd picked a wherehouse district location or something by a train station.

If nothing else, it will give me more incentive to build my single speed project.

I think there used to be a microbrewery on Jackson Street somewhere. I seem to recall seeing tanks that weren't being used down there. Phoenix's old A-1 Beer Brand was Headquartered down there as well I believe. Space may be an issue, but some of the warehouses South of the tracks and South of Lincoln are HUGE. For instance the one on the SW corner of Lincoln and 5th St as well as the one on the SE corner of 5th St and Grant.

EDIT: VV Right. I think it closed before I was of drinking age anyhow, so I never went there. Or maybe I was away in St Louis for college when it was still open. It probably wasn't big enough of a space for this project though.

Tommy Knockers is the brewery you are thinking of.

This could be a nice new spot to build around with other bars, restaurants, and businesses. Maybe it will be a good seed starter??? :)

It's three miles from downtown but the articles states that "it is along the light rail route." Question is, how adjacent to a light rail station is it? I agree with Hoover; it would have been much cooler if it was located downtown in the Warehouse District.

closest station is 24th. Doubt anyone will be walking 6 blocks from the train to this brewery in that neighborhood. I'd be very surprised if anyone else opened up in this neighborhood following the brewery.

On that note, it's amazing in that area how bad Van Buren is. I ride up and down Washington 3x's a week, almost always at night and rarely see a person. Last week my buddy and I decided to go down Van Buren instead, and there were people everywhere, and not good ones either. One guy was even riding in the street going the wrong direction at about 5mph (I was doing 20+) and he apparently wanted to play chicken with me, so I went around him and as I passed I heard him say "that's fucking right." It's just really strange how all of those drunks, prostitues, druggies, homeless, etc. don't leave Van Buren.

They'll be at the brewery now! LOL

ignore this

The A-1 Brewery (Arizona Brewing Company) was at 1143-1153 E. Madison St. I attended a meeting in that (by then closed) building in the early 80s. According to A-1: The Western Way to Say Welcome it had 34,000 sq ft of floor space.

There was an A-1 neon sign up on the side of a building on Washington until about 2005... Either light rail construction ate it up, or the vintage crowd eventually took it off for deco. I'd love an old A-1 sign, but the beer is nasty. Plus nimbus out of Tucson brews it, that's just wrong.

Exactly. It's sad that some people still haven't realized that just being near the tracks doesn't matter for shit ("directly adjacent to the light rail system"); It only matters if you're near a station. Being 0.7 miles from a light rail station, such as this project, means that it's basically not in the light rail catchment area at all and is no different than a location in Chandler (transportation-wise).

Might just be me, but I am not going to die walking 5-6 blocks. I sometimes work in NYC. I walk a lot further than that all the time. Quite simply - The light rail will not stop in front of everyone's front door.

don't talk in blocks b/c it's not a constant unit of measurement.

0.5 miles is the universally-accepted urban planning distance that the average person will walk to get somewhere. There are always exceptions (in both directions), but this is the general reality. In Phoenix's summer, you can reduce that to 0.3 miles. Along a sketchy, empty stretch of blight, you can cut that down to 0.3 miles (or less) regardless of the time of year. NYC analogies don't apply here.

Only difference is in NYC, there are so many people around at all times that you don't get that "i'm the only person walking through this dark, desolate, creepy, quiet area." Add in the fact that you know there are sketchy people there, and you would be hard pressed to get most people to do it.

Basically, what I'm saying is I don't like walking through areas where I know I could be killed, raped, and robbed, and nobody would find me until morning.

As an aside... holy moly. PhxDowntowner, I just realized who you are... you're the guy that pisses off all the urbanites on this board when they read your quotes in the news? Doesn't seem like this board would be much of a fit for you...

Buddy system everyone. Who's your buddy? :)

On the way to the bar, no one usually. After the bar though, everyone!!

So go during daylight when it is safe and you must stay till dark, when everyone is your buddy.

or drive/ride a bike, then you aren't in that much danger. ;)