Cory King, known for brewing Side Project beers, plans to move all his brewing from Perennial Artisan Ales in south St. Louis to Maplewood.
King was at at the Maplewood Plan and Zoning meeting Monday to request a conditional use permit for a microbrewery at 7458 Manchester Road. It was granted enthusiastically. (One commission member voted “hell yes.”)
The building is the former St. Louis Closet Company location. It has been vacant since the Closet Company moved to a new location nearby on S. Big Bend Boulevard.
King and his wife, Karen King, operate Side Project Cellar (7373 Marietta Avenue), and is one of ‘Maplewood’s most successful businesses,’ according to the city memo on the meeting. That business is not planned to move. See also: Side Project Cellar lease extended into 2020s
The building set to be the brewery is 7,800 square feet, according to city notes. According to the conditional use permit, retail sales must be a minimum of 25 percent of the total gross floor area of the micro-brewery operation, and retail hours must be a minimum of 12 hours per week.
King said in the meeting that one advantage of the new brewery is that he will be able to fill growlers, which can only be filled at the location where the beer is brewed. The brewing operation will be visible from the retail area.
In an email statement on Tuesday, King said, “Side Project Brewing is currently looking at brewing and barrel space in the Maplewood neighborhood. A new space in Maplewood would allow Side Project to moderately increase production and availability of their oak-aged beers and provide a brewery experience for those interested in visiting and seeing the Side Project processes.”
Exciting news indeed! This should certainly be a nice edition to the neighborhood. Looks like Maplewood will be anchored by breweries…no complaints here!
Can’t wait to see how the Maplewood PD and neighbors handle overnight bottle shares at beer releases.
There has never been an overnight bottle share for a release before, hours before? sure but not overnight.. Although it would be disapointing to see bottles shares for SP releases go away.
This is very, very cool. Congrats to the owners, great addition to the ‘nabe. Assume it may resemble their cellar on marietta. If so, can’t wait to see how this building gets transformed……
Would love to see stories like this with a photo of the current building exterior. I can’t place where this is and I’m off to Bing Maps to find it!
Oh, it’s the old Closet people’s place! Nice!
Susan, I think it’s the old STL Closet Company building.