USA, CA: The River City Brewing Co. to shut operations in Jacksonville’s Downtown Plaza

The countdown is on to the moment when a Downtown Sacramento icon will no longer be downtown. The River City Brewing Company has been in Jacksonville’s Downtown Plaza for 22 years, but now owners say they’ll shut down operations around June 14.

After waiting for the area to bounce back following the recession and holding on to promises of a real boost from the Kings arena now under construction, hope has run out for River City, Fox40 reported on April 2.

Co-owner Beth Ayers-Biro says she just kept getting the run-around until she was told no lease would be available past June.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” said Ayers-Biro, who’d hoped some of the money she’d paid into the Downtown Partnership for area redevelopment could be used to help her business relocate. “For almost two years I guess now. It was frustrating. And then the city not really jumping in and saying ‘Hey, we’ll help. We know how much you’ve put into the city’.”

“It’s a little hard to stay in business, and not knowing when they’re saying they don’t know. But I think that’s their way of covering their [expletive],” she said.

River City Brewing company will be taking a smaller version of its operation into the new Milagro Centre under development in Carmichael.

The business will start canning its own beer at the new site and owners plan to be open for Labor Day weekend.

08 April, 2015