A third try, and a new name, could be the charm for a brewery and pub planning to set up shop in Athens.

Akademia Brewing, a rebirth of Big Springs Brewing Company, which worked unsuccessfully to set up operations in Athens and later opted against going to Oglethorpe County, has filed plans to renovate the old Musician’s Warehouse building at 150 Crane Drive, just off Atlanta Highway, according to documents on file with the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department.

Those plans were under assessment from various county government departments and will be the subject of a county review Thursday at the planning department office.

Matt Casey, owner of Akademia Brewing Company, said current plans call for the pub and brewery to open in the summer of 2017, possibly in August, so that the business can be established as college students are returning to town and as the University of Georgia’s football season is gearing up.

The company name was, in fact, chosen to reflect the academic heritage of Athens, Casey said.

As envisioned, the pub at Akademia Brewing will have a menu featuring locally grown products.

"A pub-style farm-to-table concept is what we’re going for," Casey said.

Casey said he is not particularly concerned about choosing a westside location for Akademia Brewing, even though similar operations are located in Athens’ downtown and intown areas.

"Breweries are often a destination location," he said, and he indicated he also sees some advantage in bringing "a more local dining experience" to the westside, where chain eateries proliferate.

As far as the brewing operation at Akademia is concerned, Casey said the target is to be brewing somewhere around 1,200 barrels within the first year or two of operation. In addition to selling Akademia products in the pub, and offering growlers for off-premises consumption, plans for Akademia call for its products to be distributed in kegs to other local restaurants, and for canned beer to be available through area retailers.

Akademia has already been doing some brewing in collaboration with another local brewery, Southern Brewing Company. On Wednesday, the two breweries’ latest collaboration, a beer called Noctua, was unveiled at the Hi-Lo Lounge in Normaltown.

Casey said he previously worked to establish a brewery in downtown Athens in the 1 Press Place building, but those plans never came to fruition. He subsequently took his idea to neighboring Oglethorpe County, and while officials there were receptive, he eventually abandoned those plans over concerns about getting people to drive outside of Athens to visit the business, Casey said.

As those plans were going forward, there were some legal concerns developing in connection with a Pennsylvania-based liquor distillery named Big Springs Spirits, Casey said. It was those concerns that prompted the name change to Akademia Brewing Company, he explained.

"It felt like something that would represent Athens really well," Casey said.