It might soon be time to call Stoney Creek Sudsville.

An as-yet unnamed company is in negotiations to buy the former Tiercon auto parts plant at 950 South Service Rd., which has triggered an application for a zoning change.

The amendment, to be presented to the planning committee Tuesday, would allow for the production, warehousing and distribution of beer, other malt drinks, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages and energy drinks.

The applicant has also asked for the same zoning change for the property next door at 956 "to allow for potential expansion."

City staff endorse the zoning amendment because the proposal conforms to the official plan.

Earlier this year, Horizon Utilities used the 300,000-square-foot building as a backdrop to announce its new incentive programs worth up to $250,000 for potential buyers of existing industrial properties in Hamilton.

Doug Finlay, the Nai Park Capital broker hired to sell the building by the owner, Galanda Properties, said the sale is still being negotiated. He could not comment further.

The building was listed for $26 million earlier this year.

Jason Thorne, the city's general manager of planning, said the requested changes are routine. If approved, they would go to council for final approval Sept. 24.

"We're excited that this applicant has asked for this," he said. "It's been a property the city has looked at for a long time and would like to see some activity on."

The building has been vacant for about seven years.

Thorne said he does not know the name of the potential buyer.

Stephen Beaumont, a beer industry consultant and author of the "Pocket Beer Guide 2015," which is to be released next month, said he was "absolutely surprised" to hear about a brewery potentially making a purchase of such a large building.

He said Brew Hub, a U.S. company, is building a large brewery in St. Louis. But he said it's hard to guess who can undertake a project of this size in Canada.

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"The millions there alone (to buy the building), without even thinking of the cost of equipment, is huge," he said. "It would have to take a really well-capitalized company to take that on."

But he said there are rumblings of significant shifts in the industry with the advent of craft brewers, the inroads of North American brewers in China, Europe and South America and regulatory changes.

The establishment of the Collective Arts craft brewery in the former Lakeport plant on Burlington Street is evidence of that, he said.

"There are changes happening in the marketplace. B.C. is just moving (beer sales) into grocery stores. The LCBO is going to have to modernize some day."