Strip Development on South Commercial: Does a New Beer Business Say Anything about Change?

Beer! It's summertime and that's the time for beer. The growler-fill movement has hit Salem and there's now at least two new ones in the Salem area, including a "fill station" on South Commercial, the B2 Taphouse. How does it fit into the urban streetscape?

B2 Taphouse from Sidewalk:  Not oriented to Commercial Street

As craft brewing has matured, the forms it has taken in Portland have seemed to cluster around either old industrial areas or old (and sometimes new) storefronts on streetcar lines (also old and new). Many of the pubs are family friendly, at least earlier in the evenings, and pubs or breweries often anchor walkable redevelopment phases in changing neighborhoods.

In Salem, both Santiam and Gilgamesh have sited in industrial areas, though they are not super walkable.  Although the McMenamins are known for their preservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings - like Thompson's and Boon's, which are more walkable - they also have a few older pubs in strip malls.  The growler fill business, as opposed to the pub or brewing business, has been popular elsewhere, but perhaps because of craft beer's reach here, Oregon has been slow to catch on.  But it's happening now, and it's happening in Salem.  And at least in one instance, it uses a strip mall configuration.

Draft Morningside Neighborhood Plan

In light of the new Morningside Neighborhood Plan, as well as the hoped-for TGM grant to look at transportation along a segment of South Commercial, what really are the prospects for neighborhood brewpubs and other kinds of commercial enterprises that are markers for a "walkable" neighborhood?

B2 Taphouse Site on South Commercial; Drive-thru bays
in center of building on both sides

The B2 Taphouse is located in a new-school strip mall. The mall has a front building oriented for drive-thru business, and a back building that is standard strip.  The two parts are oriented towards an inner "courtyard" for car parking.

Side of B2 Taphouse:
Configured for Drive-Thru (just to the right of image edge)
and no Sidewalk

It's so clearly oriented towards drive-thru and drive-in business that there is no real sidewalk from the front of the building to the back. The site plan literally does not expect any circulation or visits by people on foot. (This is South Commercial, after all.)  The owners of B2 have closed off the storefront that faces Commercial so there's nothing that greets the sidewalk (top image).  There also didn't seem to be any bike parking.

In back, there's a little wisp of a sidewalk and part of it is cordoned off for outdoor seating.

Back of B2 Taphouse:  Front Entry on Back Parking Lot,
Minimal Patio

Not surprisingly, on a glorious early Sunday evening everybody was inside. Some were in for brief visits to fill growlers, but others were watching baseball or looked like they were on dates.  Perhaps there are times when the outdoor seats fill, but to this eye they didn't look so inviting.

More importantly, with all the energy directed inwards toward the parking lot "courtyard," this configuration seems unlikely to be something people walk to in significant numbers, not a "neighborhood" pub in any meaningful sense.  It's a driving destination - growlers "to go."

The small outdoor seating at the French Press and Venti's Taphouse show that it is possible to work a compromise with South Commercial - but it's not easy.  And even Venti's Taphouse is auto-oriented, and there always seems to be more bikes downtown than at the South Commercial location.

Word of Mouth and the Broadway Coffeehouse are more like "neighborhood pioneers," walkable establishments in neighborhoods that are being reenergized (and, yes, also gentrified).  But these are older, streetcar-scaled neighborhoods with traditional street grids.  What about newer parts of town with business development restricted to busy, busy arterial roads (many of them stroads)?  Are we seeing here the development of a Salem-styled, auto-oriented brewpub culture?

The combination business of pub and growler fill could have leveraged more walkable building forms on Commercial or elsewhere in the city.  But at lease these entrepreneurs didn't see future growth on that side, and instead saw the growth in auto-oriented business.  So at least for the moment, development looks back to the 20th century rather than forward to new urban forms. It will be interesting to watch other developments.

Redevelopment at the old Weathers Site

On one of the other corners by French Press and Venti's, the old Weathers Music Store has been knocked down, and the empty lot awaits redevelopment.

The Old Weathers Music Store Lot on S Commercial
Can the parking be put in back of a new building?
(click to enlarge)

So here the question is:  What will it take to move the building to the street and to put the parking in back? The area is full of 20th century strips placed behind parking lots that front the street.  So is swapping the positions even possible with Salem's zoning and codes?

With the proximity to the French Press and Venti's, and several other restaurants nearby, as well as the forthcoming Acme Cafe, with principals from J. James and Wild Pear, coming to a site just one block south of here, this intersection and area has tons of possibility to be a restaurant row for middle South Commercial (as distinct from outer South Commercial).

What will the Weathers redevelopment look like and what opportunities will it seize or forgo?  Stay tuned!