E-Malt.com News article: USA, AR: Crisis Brewing submits plan for new production facility in Fayetteville

A project to build a new brewery and gathering place in south Fayetteville that has been in the works for about 7 years is about to come to fruition, Fayetteville Flyer reported on March 26.

Crisis Brewing, a small craft brewery that began in what was once a storage shed behind the old Penguin Ed’s B&B barbecue, has submitted plans for a new 10,000 square foot production facility with 6,000 square foot indoor/outdoor taproom on the same property it has been operating on since it opened in 2018.

Owners Sean and Liz Slape said their goal with the new brewery is to keep a lot of the same charm of their small space that the neighborhood has come to love, but to add brewing capacity, parking, and room to gather while also preserving the green space that make the brewery special.

“Sometimes It feels like our town is becoming nothing but student housing built by people that don’t live here,” Liz said. “We’re from Fayetteville, live in Fayetteville, and love Fayetteville. We want to continue to invest in this area and keep the soul of Fayetteville alive and growing.”

The new building will be situated along Nelson Hackett Boulevard, and will include extra space for production, along with a small pub with a footprint similar to the existing space, a rooftop bar, space for gatherings, about 50 additional parking spaces, a small kitchen, and a preservation and expansion of the wooded area to the south of the building known as the “magic forest.”

“The main floor of the taproom will have a cozy Irish pub vibe just like what Crisis has today,” Liz said. “There’s a small kitchen, and a second floor that has a rooftop bar and private dining space overlooking the beer production area.”

The extra room will better allow the brewery to keep up with demand for beer, while also allowing for more visitors to the taproom during all seasons of the year.

“We are definitely dependent on the weather here, so we are trying to remove that variable a bit from our operation,” Sean said.

The small kitchen will allow for a small pub menu of food to serve the taproom, but also will allow local pop ups and food trucks that have been serving patrons for events more room and equipment to do their thing.

The taproom will also continue to serve food from Penguin Ed’s B&B BBQ next door, which has been a mutually-beneficial thing for both the restaurant and the brewery and a big part of the Crisis experience since near the beginning.

The idea to eventually build a facility on the property has been part of the plan since the brewery opened in 2018, but the design of the facility has changed quite a bit since it was first proposed. Key Architecture is the architect on the project, and Bates is the project engineer.

“This is our third iteration of the design,” Sean said. “We had a whole other set of plans that we had to scrap just because it wasn’t us.”

Part of what has shaped the project is feedback from patrons.

“Our customers are very vocal, and they’ve told us they don’t want us to change the things that make this place special,” Liz said. “Central to the plan is to preserve and improve the Magic Forest, which is an urban park in the middle of town. People love that they can be in downtown Fayetteville but feel like they’re in the trees, so we’ve designed the entire project around that.”

Crisis will continue to operate out of their current for the duration of the construction project, they said.

“We can’t really afford to close, so this (building) will stay open until (the new building) is finished,” Liz said. “The building site is a challenging one, but once complete will offer beautiful views of the hills and trees Fayetteville can uniquely offer.”

Despite the challenges of the project, the Slapes said the feeling is that it’s kind of now-or-never if they’re going to take on the project.

“It’s going to be difficult to pull it off, but we have to do it now,” Liz said. “I mean, things don’t get cheaper.”

“If we do it right, it can be an anchor building for south Fayetteville,” Sean said. “This whole area is better. It feels like a fantastic opportunity for us, and for everyone who would be associated with the place in the neighborhood.”

Plans for the project are expected to go before the Fayetteville Planning Commission in the coming weeks. If all goes well, the project could break ground later this year, and could open sometime in late 2026 or early-to-mid 2027.


27 March, 2025