Maybe, someday, a brewery might come to Melrose
Mayor Brodeur looks to flip another switch for small businesses in a city that desperately needs them.
This week, Mayor Brodeur presented an order to the city council’s Legal & Legislative Committee requesting acceptance of a provision of Massachusetts General Law allowing the operation of “breweries” in Melrose. This does not mean that the opening of a brewery in Melrose is particularly imminent, although it does suggest that the city has received a serious-enough inquiry to bother spending resources on setting the stage for one to open eventually.
Any proposal for a brewery in Melrose would likely be a relatively small affair, as few suitable sites exist. Some halfway-plausible vacancies have come up recently, such as 1 City Hall Plaza, at 3000sqft; 1 Hurd Street, at 1100 sqft; or even the future redevelopment of the Caruso’s site, which will feature 3,600sqft of commercial space. Other theoretical future sites remain in areas the city has targeted for housing growth, like the Greenwood & Sons building, at 1 Washington, in the Smart Growth District, or the numerous commercial parcels in the Railroad Corridor. One could also imagine the Turners’ folks wanted to convert the Rising Eagle into a brewpub-type establishment (a previous effort to create a dining patio behind Rising Eagle sputtered and disappeared during COVID). There are some buildings in the downtown-adjacent portions of Upham or Essex whose owners also may be willing to engage in such a project. Jonathan Berk, at Mainvest, reminded me that even if a storefront appears small, if it has a basement large enough for brewing equipment, the operation could work. Even smaller taprooms can be profitable operations, since any beer sold at a taproom does not have costs for bottling, transportation, waitstaff service, etc.
If the Mayor’s aware of specific sites being targeted, he didn’t spill them to the Committee, although he did share the obvious conclusion that the operation would be small. By way of comparison, he cited True North Brewing, although he incorrectly placed it in Peabody; I’m assuming he meant somewhere else, since True North operates out of a relatively large building (perhaps Granite Coast?).
It’s my understanding that the licensing process for a brewery – which involves both federal and state regulators – can only begin once a site has been selected, so this truly represents the beginning of the process. Lauren Grymek, the city’s economic development director, gave an optimistic timeline of six months just to get the city pieces in order: acceptance of this law, passage of new liquor regulations, updates to the zoning, etc.
Melrose, long a “dry city” holdout, has been slowly updating its liquor rules over the past decade. In 2014, then-Mayor Dolan convened a “Liquor Advisory Committee” to codify the city’s approach to alcohol sales. Those efforts resulted in new rules which allowed for alcohol sales at smaller restaurants, but also put in place many of the city’s quirkier restrictions – for example, requiring thank drinks be served with “food ordered from the menu” which is “served on solid dinnerware with silverware” – designed at prohibiting bars from being opened within city limits.
In 2019, Mayor Infurna initiated a Home Rule Petition – also successful – to allow the retail sale of “liquor and spirits” in Melrose, clearing the way for Beacon Hill Wine and Buckalew’s to expand their offerings. In 2020, Mayor Brodeur put together his own “Advisory Committee on Enhanced Liquor Sales,” whose recommendations included eliminating Dolan’s food service requirement and clearing the way for allowing a beverage cart to operate at Mt. Hood Golf Course. The mayor chose to pursue the beverage cart option; this was passed by the council, and the city’s current course operator, Sagamore, was granted a license to operate the cart ahead of the 2023 golf season. The mayor dressed this up as a general economic booster, and raised the potential that the Farmers’ Market might be able to sell beer and wine. This idea seems to have been rooted in actual interest from the Farmers’ Market, which did pursue approval from the Parks Commission following the passage of the rule. The idea seems to have silently been stuck in a drawer by some combination of the Parks Department and the Police Department; there have been few signs that the city is actively pursuing it, or other events.
This latest order seems likely to pass the full Council as well. The only councilor to vote against both the Home Rule Petition and the local ordinance change was Ward 3’s Robb Stewart (MacMaster joined in opposed the 2020 order; Jamaleddine also opposed the 2021 order). None of those Councilors were at the Committee meeting, so they have yet to weigh in on this (MacMaster has announced he is not seeking reelection this fall). Amendments to zoning could potentially prove more controversial, as skittish Councilors jockey to assure their bases that raucous pubs won’t open in residential neighborhoods. I doubt the Planning Board would recommend this use beyond existing business areas, although I personally think we should err on the side of permissiveness, to ensure smaller sites are included, especially along bus routes.
When weighing the plan to allow a beer cart at Mount Hood, Councilor MacMaster criticized the Mayor’s “lack of clarity as to what the policy vision is” for “where (allowing alcohol sales in city parks) could lead.” This same discussion point may eventually arise here. It’s not clear, for example, if the mayor will ask the Liquor Licensing Commission to waive the requirements for food to be served alongside drinks (which could open the door to what would essentially be bars in Melrose), or if instead this is a highly tactical response to an inquiry about a brewpub concept proposal with a restaurant attached that would otherwise conform to existing local rules. The full Council will, I am guessing, take this up in mid May.