Erwin & Church Brewing Co. looks to renovate, restore old downtown fire building

Posted Saturday, May 4, 2019 10:33 pm

When the City of Cartersville opened requests for proposals (RFPs) for the old downtown fire department station at 19 North Erwin St., just one business responded — a Marietta-based limited liability company that has grand visions of transforming the 103-year-old brick building into a microbrewery, complete with a taproom and a two-story event space.

Representatives of Shelter Beer Co., LLC, spoke at Thursday night’s Cartersville City Council meeting, where they gave a quick presentation on their visions for the proposed Erwin & Church Brewing Co. development.



“We’ve had dreams of starting a business similar to this well before the three of us ever got together,” said Ian Kennedy, who would serve as director of brewing operations at the potential microbrewery. “We all met in 2015 and through becoming friends, we found that our passions and business hopes were aligned, then in 2017 we formed our brewing company.”



Kennedy said that East Mountain Development Group Principal Alex Brennan reached out to Cartersville Downtown Development Authority Manager Lillie Read about the concept for a 15-barrel brewhouse. He said that once he and Bryan Ellis — who would be CEO of the operation — saw how active the downtown community is, he just knew the business could thrive in Cartersville.



Indeed, he said he’s already working on two beers that would pay homage to the building’s historic roots; one is named Station 1 Pale Ale, while the other is dubbed 19 North Lager.



“We can be an asset to the community, and in return, this community will allow our dream business to succeed,” he said.



Ellis said the trio looks to create a “landmark destination” for the local community.



“Our plan is to rehab the building’s exterior, bringing it back to its former glory and opening the inside of the building and bringing back the grandeur to the building’s grand halls,” he said. “This will have a walkout deck, it will overlook the production brewery.”



Under an ordinance approved unanimously by council last December, the City defines a micobrewery as an establishment that manufactures no more than 15,000 barrels of beer or malt beverages on its licensed premises each year. Ellis said the production capacity for Erwin & Church Brewing Co. would be about 3,000 barrels annually.



While the proposed development would not serve food, he said the business would allow food to be eaten at and delivered to the establishment — a policy point he said creates “synergy” with some of the neighboring restaurants.



“What’s good for downtown Cartersville is good for Erwin & Church, so it’s vital for us to work hand-in-hand with the City government, local businesses and the community as we move forward,” he said.



Michael Holder — who would be COO of the operation — said the renovated building would be compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, complete with an elevator, upgraded lighting and plumbing and an all-new fire suppression system.



“Our design will utilize brick-on-brick finishes with accents of wood and steel, transforming the historic fire bay into our tasting room,” he said. “We plan on adding an outdoor space in front of the far left two fire bays, to invite people from downtown in to have a pint.”



The tentative hours for the microbrewery, Holder said, would be 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday — “and anytime downtown is having an event,” he added.



However, Kevin Lobello — senior pastor at Sam Jones Memorial United Methodist Church — said he’s heard several concerns from his congregants about the proposed development.

Some, he said, have trepidation about alcohol being served across the street from the church, while others have worries about next door noise disrupting weekend weddings.

“We’ve read some State rules, some County rules, some City rules, but it’s very close,” he said at Thursday’s public hearing. “From front door to front door, it’s less than 100 feet and by any standard, I think that’s too close.”

Cartersville resident Meghann Humphreys, however, spoke out in support of the proposed business, stating she believed it was important for both downtown life and the local economy.

“This is going to draw young people with disposable incomes to downtown,” she said. “This is going to keep their money here instead of going down to Sweetwater, or to Marietta or to the Rome City Brewing Co.”

Councilman Cary Roth said he was “conflicted” over the proposal.

“I personally have three friends right now who are in a rehab facility, and one I sent there because he was an alcoholic,” he said. “I try to be consistent in how I vote and what I believe and where I stand … I know we've talked a lot about tax money and tax funding. Perhaps we’ve already sold out on morality and now we’ve just negotiated the price.”

Ultimately, the council voted 4-2 — with Roth and Councilman Calvin Cooley dissenting — to approve a “due diligence access agreement” between the City and Shelter Brewing Co., LLC.

Per City documentation, the agreement took effect April 12 and allows the company to enter the property at 19 North Erwin St. after 30 days have passed “solely for the purpose of performing such investigations, inspections, analyses, surveys, tests, examinations and studies as Shelter deems necessary or desirable in connection with the property, its structure and Shelter’s proposed tenancy of the property.”

Other items approved by council at Thursday evening’s meeting include:

— A request from the parks and recreation department to purchase a trailer from Bartow Trailer Sales, Inc. for $7,000.

— A request from the electric department to pay an invoice of $7,884 to M&R Services, Inc. for electric meter testing.

—A request from the electric department for an amount not to exceed $25,000 to purchase underground cables for the Courtyard by Marriott hotel project next to the Clarence Brown Conference Center.

— A request from the electric department to purchase a Phase Ranger device for $9,799.93 from Morgan Advanced Products.

— A request from the water department to pay Wiedeman and Singleton Engineers $69,930 for “design, bidding and construction oversight” to replace a 500,000-gallon concrete tank at the City water treatment plant.