CLEVELAND, Ohio — Another piece in the effort to create a dedicated brewery district on West 25th Street has fallen into place.

Sam McNulty, operator of Market Garden Brewery, Bier Markt and Bar Cento in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood has signed a lease on the former Garage Bar, 1859 West 25th St. The entrepreneurial restaurateur intends to build on the success he and his partners, including brewmaster Andy Tveekrem, have achieved in Market Garden's full-scale brewing facilities.

"I want us to get into more brewing and help build the Ohio City area into a real, fully recognized brewing district," McNulty says.

Another new restaurant will be spawned in the process. Mike Nowak, formerly chef at Market Garden Brewing and Bar Cento, will take over the former Dragonfly Lounge next door to McNulty's new venture.

To further the area's recognition as a unique beer-making district, McNulty and Tveekrem will transform the former Garage Bar -- renamed Ohio City Nano Brew -- into a small-batch production facility. The team will implement a single-barrel brew house, taking up less than 100 square feet and open to public view, to produce what McNulty describes as "dynamic and sometimes extreme brews."

"We're aiming for some very creative beers, some with huge spices, others with unusual flavors -- say, a beer with cardamom," he says.

Unlike Market Garden Brewery, which is equipped to produce upward of 300 barrels of beer -- and has a dedicated distillery, which will produce white whiskey and gin -- Ohio City Nano Brew will serve as "kind of a pilot system -- we can have some fun and try our hand at more extreme brewing techniques," McNulty says.

Successful creations may go onto Market Garden Brewery's permanent menu. Meanwhile, Ohio City Nano will offer roughly a dozen taps -- most produced in-house, coupled with brews crafted by other small area breweries. The approximately 4,000-square-feet restaurant will also serve food, and McNulty will operate an outdoor beer garden representing an additional 4,000-square-feet of seasonal seating.

McNulty says he plans to open in late June.

McNulty and Nowak are taking over a pair of businesses that closed earlier this month, in a contentious upheaval between restaurateur Marlin Kaplan and the properties' landlord, Adam Waldbaum.

Local monoliths such as the West Side Market, Great Lakes Brewing Company and a burgeoning restaurant and nightlife scene provide cornerstones for McNulty's expansion plans. While the 37-year-old restaurateur and his business partners are focusing on retail operations in Ohio City, they're also hunting for space nearby to create a large brewing facility -- ranging from 50,000 to 70,000 square feet -- to grow production and distribution of their brews.

Such expansion will take place within an area no more than 15 minutes, by bicycle, from the West 25th Street operations.

"We live in the city, and we're committed to the city," says McNulty. "I've already doubled-down on West 25th Street. Now I'm going to triple-down."