New West Passyunk brewery to operate ‘more like a small winery in France,’ aiming for May opening
Earlier this week we told you about a new brewery that would be joining the ranks of businesses popping up in West Passyunk.
Brewery ARS has a lot of work to do before they’re operational in the location of a former auto repair shop at 1927-29 W. Passyunk Ave., but they’re hoping to open just 5 months from now in May.
This new brewery is being run by two brothers, Sean and Andrew Arsenault, who are both South Philly natives. They chose this location in West Passyunk based on the neighborhood atmosphere. The area has a diverse mix of people, a nice amount of foot traffic and close proximity to public transit, all of which were things they were seeking in their year-long search for a location. The South Philly Food Co-Op is partially to thank for this location, as a real estate agent on their garden tour tipped them off to the opportunity (though unfortunately, still no luck yet for a location for the co-op).
The Arsenaults are still working out details and contacting contractors, so they don’t have an exact plan for the style and renovations for the space. Although from the photos of the interior it looks like a lot of work will need to be done, Sean Arsenault says that the bones of the structure are pretty solid with a new roof and electric. The majority of the changes will be aesthetic.
They’re planning on housing their 10-barrel fermentation tanks here for brewing, in addition to having a small tasting room on-site. They don’t yet know what the size of the tasting room will be, but they aim to have it styled more like a cafe than a bar. They will be starting off with 8 beers on tap, which they mostly describe as saisons that are generally “very dry” brews. As far as food, they will be offering some small snacks, but not a full menu. To start, they aim to have the tasting room open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Arsenaults plan to keep this business very localized, “more like a small winery in France,” to keep it as a smaller-scale, family-run business. Brewery ARS’s beers will be distributed through Penn Distribution.
Their next steps involve dealing with L&I, for which they’re hoping to receive backing from the neighborhood.
You can stay up-to-date with Brewery ARS on Facebook and Twitter.
Wow, did I read that right on the coldwell banker site that they bought the place for $1300??? What a steal. That space looks similar to what the original Boxcar Brewing Co worked out of in West Chester and should definitely be a good size for what they are attempting to do as a business. Hopefully renovations and brewhouse equipment won’t be too expensive and they can hit the ground running without too much debt to work off. Best of luck to them and looking forward to checking them out in the Spring!
It’s $1300 a month NNN lease
Are you sure? According to the coldwell banker site it says “Sold” for $1300 and estimated property taxes are $1500/year. I don’t see anything on there referring to an NNN lease
Yes. A realtor on Facebook posted that she negotiated the lease for this property. The reason it says sold is that the listing agent entered it into the MLS as a commercial listing instead of a for rent listing. Coldwell Banker etc just pulls all the info straight from the MLS. They would be paying $1300 a month + property taxes + insurance. Triple net = NNN lease.
$1300 would be stealing….I did notice that 1931-1937 W. Passyunk went up for sale as soon as this was announced for 950k. I’m not a real estate agent but that seems like a pretty ridiculous number for that building.
This is going to be great! Perfect for that block. Beer brewery, good… Beer distributor… ugh…
Nice to see some creativity on the wild west side of Passyunk. I wish them luck.