Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Archive Owner Joins DAB, Vagabond Brewing and Frontier to Open Downtown

The Downtown Advisory Board meets on Thursday the 27th, and while there doesn't seem to be any action item of great interest here, there are a couple of items from the minutes that are worth a passing note.
Most interesting thing? Generational change at the DAB. Justin, on the right, is now a member of the advisory board that oversees urban renewal funding downtown. That's great to see.

In the minutes for the last meeting were also references to two brewing emporia. (Maybe someone has published this news already? But it doesn't seem to be out there yet.)

The alley was earlier this year the site of a food truck kerfuffle
see Hinessight for one take on it
An the Salem Arts Building (155 Liberty NE), in the alley space, suite 120, which was occupied for a time by Indigo Wellness, and then some food trucks on the sidewalk, Vagabond Brewing looks to open a taproom of some kind. Permit applications with the City have been on file since early August.

Information on this one is less developed, but it looks like in the Electric Apartments (249 Liberty NE), just one door north of Kraftworks, Frontier Ale is going to open - but one permit application with the City says Frontier Cider. (I didn't see an OLCC permit yet - but perhaps you know otherwise?)

Gilgamesh, Santiam, and Wandering Aengus have already tried downtown locations - but you'd think at least one brewer would be able to find a good site and a foothold sometime. It's great folks are still trying and hopefully both of them will succeed this time.

Meeting agenda and packet is here.

The Board meets Thursday the 27th, from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm in the Kalapuya Conference Room, 295 Church Street, Ste 201.

Update:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

One note with all of the breweries/cideries that have tried location downtown they were all pop up shops which means they were temporary locations, the OLCC allows a second location for up to 30 business days per year. Non of these pop ups where meant to be permanent. The cidery that will be going in downtown is a permanent establishment though, I hope it works out well for them.

Anonymous said...

Frontier Cider is also unique because they will be making cider on site as opposed to just being a retail outlet. By putting multiple business functions under one roof they will not be 100% dependent on walk in retail sales to keep their location viable. The transformation of the alley that fronts this space is very impressive. It appears that the alley will be the primary entrance (another first for downtown) and a much needed refuge from the uninviting conditions on the Commercial/Liberty freeway.

Dan and Patricia said...

Frontier Cider owners here - thanks for the support and enthusiasm! We're so excited to move into the alley and can't wait to open our doors, which is projected to be the first of the year. As for our name, we're actually still in the trademark office for the name of our cidery, which will not be Frontier Cider. Hopefully we'll receive confirmation next month and will announce it then. In the meanwhile, we're out in the orchard picking organic apples, then grinding and pressing for this year's harvest. Once we're open, stop by for a personal tour of traditional cidermaking. Cheers and hope to see you in the taproom soon!

Salem Breakfast on Bikes said...

It's very exciting to learn more about the alley plans. The alley between Liberty and Commercial running from Center to Ferry is one of the most underutilized urban resources in downtown, and it is wonderful to learn about folks who want to use it. This is tremendous!

That you are also apparently going to do both manufacturing and retail from there is also very good news. It sounds like you have a great enterprise on your hands, and the best of luck and success to you!

Dan and Patricia said...

Thank you so much - we're looking forward to it all! Cheers -