Good City Brewing will open a second production facility and taproom, at the Entertainment Block the Milwaukee Bucks are developing across North Fourth Street from the new arena.
Good City will lease 11,000 square feet along Juneau Avenue. Head of the Herd Real Estate Development LLC, the developer of the Entertainment Block, made the announcement Thursday.
The brewery, located on Milwaukee’s East Side, was founded by Dan Katt, a local real estate developer, Andrew Jones, a former plant manager at Lakefront Brewing, and David Dupee, founder of equity crowdfunding platform CraftFund.
“(We) intentionally put down roots and made a bet on Milwaukee when we founded Good City in 2016,” Katt said. “The new Entertainment Block epitomizes the direction Milwaukee is going, and we couldn’t be more excited and honored to be involved in this once-in-a-generation development project.”
Bucks President Peter Feigin, said Good City will play a significant role in making the new Entertainment Block uniquely Wisconsin and a prime destination for food and craft beer.
Good City’s downtown brewery will focus on the production of sour beers, a fast-growing category within craft beer nationwide that requires the intentional introduction of wild yeast and bacteria into the brewing process.
The 200-seat first-floor taproom, designed by Kahler Slater, will feature 24 Good City taps and a wood-fired oven kitchen concept by brewery chef Guy Davies. The second floor will feature additional outdoor patio seating and an event space with capacity for 350.
The decision to open a second brewery is a natural progression of Good City’s founding vision, Dupee said.
“This represents the next chapter in seeking the best of Milwaukee, one that our customers will play a significant part in writing, as we all participate together in shaping the future of downtown Milwaukee,” Dupee said.
The Entertainment Block, which will span the east side of North Fourth Street between West Highland Avenue and West Juneau Avenue, will feature a mix of dining, entertainment and retail and is one of the central elements of the Bucks’ design plans for the arena district and connects the arena with Old World Third Street.
The Bucks have been actively pursuing tenants for the Entertainment Block, which they had initially hoped to open this fall when the new $524 million arena opens. The timing of the Entertainment Block has been pushed back to spring 2019.
Punch Bowl Social, a national “eatertainment” chain, is also expected to open its first Milwaukee location in the Entertainment Block, according to commercial real estate sources.
