E-Malt.com News article: USA, MA: White Lion Brewing seeks permit to open brewery in Springfield

White Lion Brewing goes before the Springfield City Council June 24 for the special permit it needs to build a brewery and tap room in Tower Square, MassLive.com reported on June 10.

City Council hearings begin at 6:30 in City Hall.

White Lion needs a special permit for light manufacturing in a Business C zone, a zone that normally wouldn’t allow that type of use, said White Lion general manager and founder Raymond Berry.

Work has already begun installing equipment in the space, the former Spaghetti Freddy's on the Bridge Street side of Tower Square.

"That permission will kick of a lot of construction for us," Berry said.

He hopes to have the facility open in November at the latest.

The plan is to build a beer production facility, tap room and commercial kitchen offering a limited number of entrees.

The project will bring White Lion production to Springfield. Despite being heavily promoted as Springfield's craft beer, White Lion beers are now brewed in Williamsburg and Ipswich.

White Lion has already purchased and moved in tanks and other brewing equipment it bought from Rooster Fish Brewing in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

White Lion in Tower Square will have about 20 employees, full- and part-time.

White Lion is one of few expected arrivals in the Tower Square shopping mall, a space that's felt empty in recent years. The YMCA of Greater Springfield plans to relocate both its child-care center and its fitness center in remodeled space in Tower Square in August.

CVS plans to close its Tower Square store in November after building a new pharmacy near MGM Springfield, but the mall’s owners say they have a plan to reuse that space, considered prime because it faces Main Street.

The attached hotel is undergoing renovations.

Berry and White Lion are running summer beer gardens through Aug 31, in Tower Square Park, the former Steiger’s department store site at 1477 Main St. The Steiger’s property is owned by the same investors who own Tower Square.


13 June, 2019