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HopCat plans to open in downtown Ann Arbor in January 2015, with 100 craft beers on tap.

(File photo | MLive.com)

Good news for Ann Arbor beer lovers: Grand Rapids-based craft beer bar HopCat is coming to town.

The popular bar and restaurant, established in downtown Grand Rapids in 2008, signed a lease for a portion of the former Borders building on the corner of East Liberty and Maynard streets in downtown Ann Arbor.

The 8,600-square-foot bar plans to open in January 2015 with 100 craft beers on tap.

“It’s a great location and obviously, Ann Arbor is a really good town for interesting concepts,” said HopCat founder Mark Sellers. “It’s a good mix of people there.”

Opening HopCat was a hobby for Sellers, who spent years working in the financial industry in Chicago before moving back to his hometown of Grand Rapids. Sellers then decided to open a bar where he would want to hang out.

A rendering shows the HopCat planned for the former Borders building in downtown Ann Arbor.

“There was a lot of craft beer on tap because I’m a beer geek and we didn’t have any Bud or Coors,” he said. “We didn’t make servers or bartenders wear uniforms. I just wanted it to be a pure experience for beer fans, and it took off.”

Craft beer bar HopCat will occupy a space along Maynard Street in the former Borders building.

He added: “It really resonated with a lot of people and we were way above where we wanted to be in the first year, and business has doubled since the first year.”

With that success came expansion plans, and Sellers opened a HopCat in East Lansing in 2013. HopCat locations are set to open in Indianapolis in August and Detroit in October.

The goal, Sellers said, is to expand into 12 to 15 cities around the Midwest in the next five years. He said he has his eye on college towns, such as Madison, Wisconsin and Columbus, Ohio.

HopCat has received numerous craft beer industry accolades in its six-year history. This year, RateBeer.com ranked HopCat Grand Rapids as the No. 1 brewpub in the U.S. for a second time. The Grand Rapids HopCat is the only location that has an in-house small-batch brewery. HopCat’s website says it’s a “craft beer mecca” that serves “beer made with care and pride.”

But it’s not just about the beer; Sellers said food accounts for 50 percent of HopCat’s sales.

“We’re kind of this hybrid between a restaurant and a bar. …We say, ‘it’s food your mom would make if she loved beer.’ It’s comfort food using high-quality ingredients. Big salads and a lot of different sandwiches and burgers,” he said.

Sellers said HopCat’s signature food item — ‘Crack Fries’ — is so good it’s addictive. Crack fries are crunchy French fries sprinkled with seasoning.

Other menu items include: a ‘Damn Good Fish Sandwich,’ Greek salad, mushroom black been burrito wrap, rosemary chicken salad wrap, 10 different kinds of burgers, macaroni and cheese, and chicken tacos.

The Ann Arbor HopCat location will have frontage along Maynard Street in the former Borders building.

Ron Hughes redeveloped the building by subdividing the first-level for different retail and restaurant users. The other tenants are: Huntington National Bank, Slurping Turtle, Knight's Restaurant and Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea. Colliers International Ann Arbor handles the leasing of the building, and there is one vacant space remaining. Hughes said he has a letter of intent for that space.

Knight's Steakhouse occupies the corner space in the former Borders building in downtown Ann Arbor. HopCat will be located along Maynard Street.

“Mark Sellers is a top-notch operator,” Hughes said. “This is a perfect fit our building.”

He added: “We’re very proud of the entire development. The mix of tenants and how the building turned out, I think, is a complement to Liberty and for Ann Arbor, as well. It’s a very, very high-profile building and we’re proud of how we transformed it.”

Sellers said he likes the location for the proximity to the University of Michigan campus and other bars and restaurants. He said he doesn’t view breweries as competition.

“Breweries, we don’t consider them competition at all because they’re our suppliers,” he said. “We buy beer from them to keep on tap.”

HopCat will have 100 different beers on tap, and Seller said there is a lot of rotation on the beer list. About half of the beers will come from Michigan breweries, including Seller’s all-time favorite beer: Short’s Huma Lupa Licious. HopCat will also serve wine and cocktails.

The restaurant will have more than 300 seats, including outdoor seating along Maynard Street. Sellers said the design of the Ann Arbor HopCat will be different than the other locations.

Similar to its other locations, the Ann Arbor HopCat will have an extensive composting and recycling program.

“Inside our bars there are always three separate trash receptacles: one for compost, one for recyclables and a small bucket for stuff that cannot be composted or recycled. At the end of the night, we’ll have like one bag of trash for the entire bar,” Sellers said.

HopCat plans to hire 140 people to staff the bar, including management positions. Sellers said all HopCat employees go through extensive training so they are knowledgeable about all the different beers offered.

Sellers also owns Grand Rapid’s Stella’s Lounge, Grand Rapids Brewing Company and McFadden’s Restaurant & Saloon under his parent company BarFly Ventures.

As for what’s next for the restaurateur? He has no plans for a new concept — at least not yet.

“I’m not saying it’s out of the realm of possibility, but we don’t have any definite plans right now,” he said.

Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Reach her at 734-255-2638, email her lizzyalfs@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.