Brewers at 4001 Yancey

Location

Charlotte, NC

Market Sectors

  • Commercial
  • Hospitality
  • Industrial

Sub Sectors

  • Adaptive Reuse
  • Entertainment/Amusement
  • Food/Beverage - Brewery/Distillery
  • Food/Beverage - Restaurant/Bar
  • Historic
  • Infrastructure - Building/Site Utilities
  • Manufacturing
  • Retail
  • Warehouse

Client

Artisanal Brewing Ventures

Partners

  • CBRE
  • Redline Design Group

Transforming a historic textile mill into a popular Charlotte brewery through a true design-build partnership

Located at the corner of Old Pineville and Yancey Road in Charlotte’s Lower South End neighborhood, Brewers at 4001 Yancey is situated in an iconic piece of the city’s history: the old Bowers Fibers building, a family–owned textile company in operation since 1946. Sparked by a desire to revitalize this historic Charlotte landmark into a space locals and visitors could enjoy for years to come, Artisanal Brewing Ventures set out to transform the aging, abandoned warehouse into a state-of-the-art brewery and restaurant. The result is a 27,000 square foot, 25-barrel brewhouse that features a 300-seat tap room, outdoor patio, full industrial kitchen, retail space, and its very own packaging line.

27,000
Square Feet
Adaptive Reuse
OF HISTORIC FIBER MILL
Taproom
& Brewhouse
Unique
Gathering Spaces
Design-build
Delivery
$1.2M
In Cost Savings
The building was the original home of Bowers Fibers, a family-owned textile company that had been in operation since 1946.
The massive yet inviting indoor and outdoor 300-seat taproom wraps around a fully visible 25-barrel, four-vessel craft beer brewing machine. There are over 120 tap handles, featuring 35–40 rotating beers. The brewing recipes are formulated with the local community in mind, and numerous beers are exclusive to Charlotte.
Among the varied indoor and outdoor gathering spaces is a large, covered patio referred to as ‘The Ruins’. The space was once Mr. Bowers’s office and now boasts a rare Lower South End view of Uptown Charlotte.
The entire project team and specialty subcontractors worked as a cohesive partnership early in the process, turning it into a true design–build partnership of like–minded craftsmen.
The team went through multiple rounds of scope management exercises to identify the main cost drivers and possible alternatives. As a result, well over $1 million in savings were realized for the Owner.

If you brew it, they will come

From the moment you walk in the door of Brewers at 4001 Yancey it is evident that it was designed with the customer experience in mind. Several lounge areas with couches and throw pillows invite you to relax and unwind. Unique shadows and natural light are cast down from the skylights and bounce off the exposed wooden trusses, contrasting distinctly with the modern industrial furniture, lighting, and metal beams. You immediately feel you are somewhere unique.

Side Story

The Barringer Way

GROUNDBREAKING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

To encourage excitement and engagement from the community for this project, the team hosted a formal groundbreaking ceremony with key members of the parent company, project team and local community to officially welcome Artisanal Brewing Ventures to the Charlotte.

Innovative design with historic roots

The space’s vision centers on finding the balance between making it about the beer and maximizing the customer’s experience and engagement. This posed unique challenges. For example, how do you put a brew system front and center (which is typically not the ideal setup) and still maximize efficiency? The end results reflect the intent: a massive yet inviting indoor and outdoor taproom wrapped around a fully visible 25-barrel, four-vessel craft beer brewing machine.

To pay homage to the building’s historic roots, the project team incorporated as much of the existing building structure as possible, including the characteristic skylights and trusses, while remediating the typical challenges associated with buildings from this era to bring them up to code. The addition of the historic brew tanks adds a nostalgic and symbolic twist to the new space’s historic feel.

Problem-solving efforts

Keeping with the theme of customer interactivity, the placement of the equipment was strategically picked to allow for even the most novice of spectators to understand and appreciate the brewing process. To accomplish this with the brewhouse was no small feat. The characteristically unique skylights made details around the placement of trench drains critical. To ensure the vent stacks would go through the ceiling at precise points, our team made cardboard circle mock-ups of the tanks, working backward to ensure the skylights would be cleared.

Working with heavy MEP infrastructure

The automated brewing operations came with significant process piping and interconnections. Requirements included trench drains for chemical-resistant, high-temperature brew house equipment, kitchen grease, restrooms, and beverage chases. To coordinate this, three drain lines had to fit in a tight space under the slab to allow enough fall to reach the street.