Continuing with our favorite development announcements from 2017, we move back to the Tower Grove South Neighborhood, where popular local brewery, Civil Life indicated they would be expanding operations.
The good news is they are staying right where they are at 3714 Holt Avenue and expanding just to the north nearest Beck Avenue. There is a small auto body shop building that will be demo'd for the expansion.
Per an October, 2015 St. Louis Magazine article, Civil Life has owned this small auto body shop since 2015.
Then two years later, St. Louis Magazine reported on the expansion announcement which makes our best proposals of 2017 list:
“Popular Tower Grove South pub Civil Life Brewing Company (3714 Holt) will undergo major renovations starting in April 2018, increasing the brewing capacity, adding more bar space, and even introducing rentable rooms.
Jake Hafner, self-proclaimed “Captain of the Barley Ship” and owner of the brewery, says the renovation will expand the facility from 6,800 square feet to 10,500. He’s most excited about the new tower in the front of the building, where he hopes to install a St. Louis–made bell.
“If this all goes well, we’ll have a bell to ring when we open every day,” he says. “We’ll also have the streetscape, and just the entire building is going to look completely different. I think it’s something that the residents of Tower Grove South, who have been supportive of us, are really going to love and appreciate.””
Renderings by Hafner Ferlita Architects, in Florida.
So, there will be a dedicated parking lot to accommodate 30 cars, a new streetscape including new sidewalks and streetlights, a kitchen expanding from 80 to 600 square feet, a retail store and most importantly...a canning line.
As of now, it is very hard to track down Civil Life in cans across the region.
NextSTL published a story in October, 2017 with quotes from Hafner that have to make you impressed with the owner's commitment to the city:
“He adds that “Tower Grove South, Shaw and Tower Grove East have been so supportive of our brewery; it’s heartfelt, the love I have for this area. Five of our top 20 accounts are within three-miles of here and being that hyper-local means so much. For us local guys, ‘drinking local’ means so much. What makes the city great is being able to walk down the street to a place and there’re more of those places now than when we began six-years ago.””
So it is good to see the St. Louis beer scene expanding with eyes on the future. All the best to Civil Life's expansion. This will be fun to watch materialize in 2018.
