NEUWEILER BREWERY REUSE PLAN
Allentown, PA
The Neuweiler Brewery in Allentown, PA is an historic property located in the city’s waterfront district. Opened in 1912, the plant featured state-of-the-art technology in brewing German style beer, porterand ale. Succumbing to national shifts in beer manufacturing and distributing, the Neuweiler Brewery ceased operations in the late 1960s and this historic complex of buildings has remained vacant since. Rehabilitating this facility is a major component fo the City’s redevelopment strategy for the entire waterfront area.
In 2012, Urban Partners was retained by the City of
Allentown as part of a consultant team tasked with identifying a feasible reuse plan for the Neuweiler Brewery. Our role in this project was to identify and then examine the financial feasiblity of development approaches that would be appropriate to the scale and character of the buildings as well as complementary to the surrounding area and to the
overarching waterfront development objectives.
We assessed market conditions for a wide array of residential, office, retail and entertainment uses and worked with the design team in developing several redevelopment alternatives for the site. We identified the cost of initial development, prepared income/expense analysis for on-going operations, identified potential funding sources and detailed the fiscal impact that the various alternatives would have on the local and state economies.
Since the completion of our work, the City of Allentown has offered the complex for sale and the winning bidder, the Ruckus Brewing Company finalized its purchase in early 2014. The Brewery plans a two-phase, $30 million rehabilitation and will occupy approximately half of the Neuweiler facility with its contract brewing operation and develop the remainder of the site for office and retail use
Urban Partners completed a market assessment for a wide range of waterfront-related recreational activities.
