Jason Williams

jwilliams@enquirer.com

Champions behind Cincinnati's brewing renaissance would like to propose a toast: Here's to crafting a new chapter for the iconic Hudepohl Brewery smokestack.

The region's port authority purchased the old brewery and an adjacent property in Queensgate for $650,000 this week – a step toward assessing a property that has been blighted and abandoned for decades.

"The smokestack is ingrained in our heritage," said Greg Hardman, owner of the Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. "I've wondered what it would take to save it. You don't really know, but I'm glad that it's in the port authority's hands in order for them to evaluate the building's full potential."

The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority could end up demolishing the brewery, which is a set of buildings once part of Cincinnati's thriving brewery district. The former home of Hudy Delight and Hudepohl 14-K beers is instantly recognizable by its signature smokestack, a visible part of the city's skyline – particularly from the West Side – for over 150 years.

The port authority specializes in cleaning up old industrial sites and blighted residential and commercial properties, and had worked for more than a year to purchase the brewery at 801 W. Sixth Street.

The economic development agency does not yet have a timetable for when it will determine what to do with the property, port authority President and CEO Laura Brunner said Thursday. It will begin an assessment of the property and cleanup costs soon.

A city official told The Enquirer in 2010 that "it would cost a fortune" to demolish the old brewery," which was sold to Schoenling Brewing Co. in the mid-1980s, leading to the plant's closure.

The once-beautiful red-brick buildings have fallen into disrepair – a danger to firefighters, the homeless who seek shelter there and adventure seekers.

It's the port authority's first major property purchase in Queensgate, where the agency envisions remaking the city's old industrial corridor into a hub for high-paying manufacturing jobs. The brewery site could end up being part of an overall plan to spend $250 million to clean up and prepare the area for redevelopment over the next 10 years.

"This purchase is less about our long-term strategy than it is about the condition of the building," Brunner said. "We are in the best position to get it stabilized. With the Drop Inn Center moving (nearby), we are motivated to have that property be safe for the neighbors."

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) is redeveloping the old Butternut Bread factory into the new home for the Drop Inn Center, the region's largest homeless shelter. The Butternut plant is a block south of the Hudepohl Brewery.

The port authority purchased the brewery for $400,000 from Hudepohl Square LLC. The port also bought the adjacent property at 840 W. Fifth St. from West Fifth Lofts LLC for $250,000.

The port authority, which receives $1.5 million annually from the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, used $500,000 from Duke Energy grants to make the purchase. The rest of the money came from fees the port authority generates from issuing bonds for projects.

Brothers Sy and Safi Safi of Hudepohl Square had envisioned redeveloping the brewery site after buying the 1.6-acre property of five buildings in 2004 for $172,000. In 2005, Hudepohl Square marketed the project, putting the smokestack for sale on eBay, which garnered the attention they wanted, but no bids.

But the Safi brothers' dream was complicated by a demolition contractor in default and a criminal conviction on fire code violations for failing to make the building safe. The property was condemned in 2009.

Safi Safi did not return a message seeking comment on Thursday.

The port authority's purchase of the property has people dreaming about the brewery site again. Hardman, who now owns the Hudepohl brand, hopes the entire smokestack – or at least a part of it – can be salvaged. The Over-the-Rhine Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. has envisioned the smokestack being part of a future leg of the organization's brewery tours, which currently span eight blocks in Over-the-Rhine.

The red-brick smokestack has "HUDEPOHL" painted vertically in white, block letters on the north and south portions of the structure.

"The smokestack is one of the last surviving structures of the old West End, where so much has been changed because of redevelopment, blight and highway development," said Margo Warminski, preservation director for the Cincinnati Preservation Association. "It's an important reminder of our industrial heritage, and it would be great if we could save it." •