Here's the story: http://nextstl.com/central-corridor/urb ... -the-grove
Urban Chestnut to open brewery in Grove's Renard building
Urban Chestnut to open brewery in Grove's Renard building
- 11K
Fantastic news. As these new craft breweries age, this will hopefully happen more and more in the coming years. Some have more ambitious goals than others.
Reading in the Post article, they're going to have a 150 person capacity bar/restaurant that faces Manchester. That'll be great for a block with an entire wall of dead space.
Reading in the Post article, they're going to have a 150 person capacity bar/restaurant that faces Manchester. That'll be great for a block with an entire wall of dead space.
- 118
This is awesome. I enjoy Schlafly and think they do a great job with a very nice product mix, but these guys make damn good beer. And a little friendly competition between the two to raise the bar (literally) doesn't hurt either.
Please, please tell me that the seating for 150 is one giant Bavarian style beer hall
Updated renderings from Alex- nice face lift for a former ugly duckling -
http://nextstl.com/central-corridor/urb ... -the-grove
http://nextstl.com/central-corridor/urb ... -the-grove
Sorry, but I just can't get excited about what is essentially a large industrial plant moving smack into the middle of what should be a retail/restaurant/residential neighborhood.
Plus, that giant wall-sized billboard proposed along Manchester is really awful.
Plus, that giant wall-sized billboard proposed along Manchester is really awful.
^ Rather then the large industrial paper warehouse that existed there before.
Couldn't help the jab but agree with your sentiments. I think you could downsize the structure, still have plenty of room for expansion and it would fit so much better or find a way to break up the the building facing Manchester instead of the Mural. Understand the cost issue, but believe Green Streets has done some pretty good work and somehow the renderings really don't give you different feel from what was there before.
Maybe physically split the newest portion of the structure into two seperate buildings. Brewery/Warehouse on one side and a private beer hall for rent on the other side. You can incorporate high windows to the beer hall portion to give a separate feel and break up the block.
Couldn't help the jab but agree with your sentiments. I think you could downsize the structure, still have plenty of room for expansion and it would fit so much better or find a way to break up the the building facing Manchester instead of the Mural. Understand the cost issue, but believe Green Streets has done some pretty good work and somehow the renderings really don't give you different feel from what was there before.
Maybe physically split the newest portion of the structure into two seperate buildings. Brewery/Warehouse on one side and a private beer hall for rent on the other side. You can incorporate high windows to the beer hall portion to give a separate feel and break up the block.
- 1,792
^^Man some people are never happy.
Come on GET excited. As far as adaptive reuse this is probably the BEST thing that could happen. Consider about 1/3 of the street face will be restaurant/bar. Secondly This brings a much needed day crowd to the grove which is necessary to support the local retail and restaurants. Some of them might even decide to LIVE in the Grove diversifying the residential employment options for FPSE since right now the main player is Barnes and the rest of CORTEX which are peripheral to the Grove. Honestly I can't think of a better use for the lot. There are plenty of vacancies along Manchester for retail and restaurants to move into if they so choose and are just a little more likely to every time more people are attracted to the Grove to live work or play.
I did raise my eyebrows a bit at the floor plan. Its not my specific area of expertise but hopefully they have hired or employ a good manufacturing engineer to design the most efficient and easily expanded manufacturing layout. When I looked at it I was confused why they weren't using a more linear production line that dumps right at the loading docks to the east. The north loading docks to supply raw materials (hops, wheat, yeast etc). Fermentation could be anywhere even the outbuildings to the north since it would likely be moved through pipes in the ceiling though linearity is always prefered. Maybe there is a reason I am not aware of such as standard bottling production equipment coming only in this form factor. It makes little difference now with the initial scale of production but if properly designed this building could make ALOT of beer.
I really like the mural too.
Come on GET excited. As far as adaptive reuse this is probably the BEST thing that could happen. Consider about 1/3 of the street face will be restaurant/bar. Secondly This brings a much needed day crowd to the grove which is necessary to support the local retail and restaurants. Some of them might even decide to LIVE in the Grove diversifying the residential employment options for FPSE since right now the main player is Barnes and the rest of CORTEX which are peripheral to the Grove. Honestly I can't think of a better use for the lot. There are plenty of vacancies along Manchester for retail and restaurants to move into if they so choose and are just a little more likely to every time more people are attracted to the Grove to live work or play.
I did raise my eyebrows a bit at the floor plan. Its not my specific area of expertise but hopefully they have hired or employ a good manufacturing engineer to design the most efficient and easily expanded manufacturing layout. When I looked at it I was confused why they weren't using a more linear production line that dumps right at the loading docks to the east. The north loading docks to supply raw materials (hops, wheat, yeast etc). Fermentation could be anywhere even the outbuildings to the north since it would likely be moved through pipes in the ceiling though linearity is always prefered. Maybe there is a reason I am not aware of such as standard bottling production equipment coming only in this form factor. It makes little difference now with the initial scale of production but if properly designed this building could make ALOT of beer.
I really like the mural too.
I wonder if part of their business plan is to not only brew their own beers, but serve as a contract facility for other area microbreweries? Aren't local brands like Kreftig and O'Fallon farmed out for production in other midwest cities?
- 11K
^ I believe they're solely focused on their own product and will not be a contract brewer.
- 1,320
If the market could support it, I agree that an unbroken line of retail storefronts would be great along Manchester from Kingshighway to Vandeventer. But when I look at the Grove, it seems to me that the retail strip really begins at Newstead (east of here) and continues east to Vandeventer.framer wrote:Sorry, but I just can't get excited about what is essentially a large industrial plant moving smack into the middle of what should be a retail/restaurant/residential neighborhood.
The 4400 block of Manchester is residential and industrial. West of here, you only see the Mia Rosa building and a few other outliers to the retail strip. My sense is that a brewery and tasting room will help bring life to a dead block and hopefully help restaurants survive in the Mia Rosa building. But the retail strip itself will probably continue to start at Newstead and travel east from there.
Still, if the market could support it, I'd love to see dense mixed-use residential with retail storefronts all the way from Kingshighway to Vandeventer.
Brief update in today's Post-Dispatch:
http://m.stltoday.com/business/columns/ ... touch=true
http://m.stltoday.com/business/columns/ ... touch=true
FYI about the UCBC West
Get ready for the opening of Urban Chestnut’s Grove Brewery & Bierhall, which we are targeting for February of 2014??? At least that’s what we hope. What we are sure of though is that this year’s Wolpertinger, our anniversary event celebrating the spirit of craft beer and community, will be taking place on Sunday, January 26th from 1-5pm in a section of our Grove brewery’s warehouse. Besides receiving a commemorative sampling glass to enjoy the array of beers from over 20 local craft brewers, partaking in the delicious fare from an assortment of food trucks, and grooving to the awesome horn play from The Funky Butt Brass Band, Wolpertinger 2014 will be…
The general public’s first opportunity to tour what should be the mostly complete Urban Chestnut Grove Brewery & Bierhall.
Tickets can be purchased in one of two ways: IN-PERSON @ Urban Chestnut’s Midtown Brewery & Biergarten for $35
OR ON-LINE @ http://www.urbanchestnut.com for $40
Tickets are limited due to space issues, which is actually ironic because the building is NOT small. Thus, it is highly likely tix won’t be available on the day of the event…we don’t know this of course…but consider yourselves forewarned.
- 8,924
I can't make it tomorrow. Will someone please post some pics of the new space? TIA
Drove by the UCB open house @ noon today and it looked like they had quite a turnout. In fact, parking was a premium, even on the 4500 block of Arco. I hope when the UCB parking lots are finished, the parking won't be a problem. But I have a suspicion this is only the beggining. With all the development going on now and planned later in the Grove and FPSE, parking on the streets north of Manchester is going to be tight. I think everybody owning property and/or living in the FPSE have been patiently waiting for the area to be developed. Well, that day is here. You better watch what you wish for.
- 933
The Grove really needs a garage. It could even be below-ground. Make it part of that proposed 5 story building across the street from UCB or part of future, similar sized development. That huge lot next to Handlebar is going to be home to something huge for the Grove before you know it. Once that and the massive lot next to the bank are developed, the Grove as a whole will be very dense and there won't be many lots left to develop on Manchester.
99 times out of a 100 saying "more parking" or "parking garage" will get you yelled at around here. But I agree with you that very soon we could be looking at that need. Amazing.Gateway City wrote:The Grove really needs a garage. It could even be below-ground. Make it part of that proposed 5 story building across the street from UCB or part of future, similar sized development. That huge lot next to Handlebar is going to be home to something huge for the Grove before you know it. Once that and the massive lot next to the bank are developed, the Grove as a whole will be very dense and there won't be many lots left to develop on Manchester.
- 933
I know, I know, a garage is a total boner killer. But if it's hidden underground and there is retail at the street level, it won't be that bad. Throw a few stories of apartments on top and we're gold. The Grove is going to have a severe parking shortage in less than 3 years now. In a way, it's a symbol of how far the neighborhood has come over the past decade.
^ logical, the Grove is rapidly gentrifying and will be what the Loop is today in the next couple years. The Loop will obviously be on another stratosphere all together. Between the Grove, the Loop, Cherokee, Euclid etc. St. Louis is developing some pretty awesome corridors. I would love to see Locust in Midtown and Downtown West do the the same. Grand Center also has real potential to take off. Downtown also has some good momentum going, sometimes we have off years, but I think we will wake up in about 5-10 years and Downtown will look a lot more complete.
I made it out today, and the space is going to be very cool. Really looking forward to it fully opening.
- 1,792
The odds of an underground garage in the grove is unrealistic at best. They don't even like to build them downtown. Not sure where a reasonable place to build one would be... Commerce bank? Itd be better if it was more centrllized but there aren't a lot of spaces that make sense unless you start talking about demos for parking... 
- 933
By 2020, the Loop-Forest Park will be able to compete with some other mid-sized cities' downtown areas. Even as it is now, the Loop is more vibrant at night than downtown Seattle. We do have some great corridors growing here. Cherokee is about to have a huge year of new openings numbering in the dozens, the Loop Trolley will start construction and the Lofts at Wash-U will be finished, lots of stuff like this being built in the Grove, and on Euclid they're building CityWalk and hopefully the Opus tower soon too. When I was in Seattle, there weren't many neighborhoods anything like these. St. Louis is really on a good track and I plan to check out UCB soon.goat314 wrote:^ logical, the Grove is rapidly gentrifying and will be what the Loop is today in the next couple years. The Loop will obviously be on another stratosphere all together. Between the Grove, the Loop, Cherokee, Euclid etc. St. Louis is developing some pretty awesome corridors. I would love to see Locust in Midtown and Downtown West do the the same. Grand Center also has real potential to take off. Downtown also has some good momentum going, sometimes we have off years, but I think we will wake up in about 5-10 years and Downtown will look a lot more complete.
I also don't see a Grove garage being too big. Maybe as big as the one by the Tivoli at most, but like I said, underground.