City approves plans for adaptive reuse of old Greenville warehouse for brewery.

• Position: New Realm Brewing Co., Greenville, South Carolina

The city of Greenville Design Review Board approved plans for an Atlanta-based brewery to move into the West End.

New Realm Brewing Co. will take over the Old Cigar Warehouse on S. Main Street along with an outdoor dining pavilion and covered event area. New construction will take place on the empty lot at the intersection of S. Main and Wardlaw streets and will include minor exterior and full interior renovations of the Old Cigar Warehouse to create a brewery/restaurant and beer garden, according to the city.

The plan preserves the historic character of the existing Old Cigar Warehouse, including a mural visible from S. Main Street. However, the board's approval, by a 4-0 vote, came with conditions.

Architects for the project, Greenville-based McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture will be required to make additional adjustments to their plans, including the location of a fireplace, fire pit and the selection of various building materials. The project will move forward as the details are resolved, the city said, but they have received the Certificate of Appropriateness to move forward with building permits.

SC Biz News attempted to reach New Realm Brewing Co. several times via email but the company has not responded to questions regarding the project.

The city has been focused on activating the downtown area, said Shannon Lavrin, Greenville assistant city manager.

"This brewery will help contribute to that activation," she said. "Activated spaces allow for a more vibrant community, which leads to a healthier community, economically, and that's why we believe it's a good fit for our downtown. It'll activate that space and help surrounding businesses in turn."

Lavrin said the brewery fits in with the other adaptive reuse spaces around Greenville, because they aren't trying to do a "scrape and replace" in other words, tearing everything down to start over. New Realm Brewing has four other distinct locations in Charleston, Atlanta, Savannah and Virginia Beach, Va., which are all unique to their respective communities.

"If you look around, one thing Greenville has done well is reusing existing buildings instead of just doing scrapes and replaces, especially in the downtown area," Lavrin said. Anything that is within the downtown central business districts must be approved by the Design Review Board. "The Design Review Board is making sure we keep as much of our history in as many of our buildings as possible."

With the cost of construction higher...