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Roslindale Square could get a brewery
By adamg on Thu, 11/09/2017 - 10:50am
From ice cream to beer?
Roslindale Village Main Street teases us with the news that a brewery has signed a lease for the vacant space where Select Cafe and Emack & Bolio's used to be on Belgrade Avenue, across from the train stop.
The group isn't naming names just yet, but says the brewery should be open for beer-thirsty Roslindalians by the spring. If nobody drops a dime before Dec. 7 (operators are standing by), Main Street says the brewers will be on hand at the Roslindale Holiday Market that afternoon.
Thanks to some sleuthing by a UHub dime dropper (see the comments), it looks like Michael Estey of West Roxbury filed for a trademark on the name Distraction Brewing Co. in September, after filing incorporation papers with the state in June. A Facebook page for Distraction Brewing lists the old Select Cafe space as its address (ed. note: And already has a 5-star review, um, what?).
Speculation had run rampant in Roslindale in recent days that Fort Point's Trillium Brewing would be moving into the area - but in the old substation space across from Adams Park, where plans for a large restaurant had fallen through. On Tuesday, Trillium posted photos of the substation's distinctive windows on the Cummins Highway side on social media without explanation, then pulled the photos down a couple hours later.
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Comments
Perfect!
Plenty of evening parking across the street at the train station. Looking forward to this happening.
One thing, is this space large enough for a "real" restaurant? It was OK for ice cream and a coffee shop, but seems a bit small for full service. Time will tell, I guess....lots of the eateries in Roslindale are pretty small.
How large is the mysterious basement?
No clue what's down there (it is mysterious, after all) or whether it could be set up as a kitchen, but if it can be, put in a kitchen and a dumbwaiter (and, of course, the brewing tanks) and voila.
Basement Has a Vault
Not too sure how big the basement is, but it still has the vault. Someone checked on that when we had our table in that space during the Birch Street Fair a couple of months back. They let me know the vault was still there.
In my childhood this was the First National Bank fo Boston, complete with teller "cage" windows and beautiful wooden trim, some of which can still be seen. And as with any bank, it has a vault downstairs.
That said, the stairs going down are pretty narrow and curved and I do not think there is a second egress, (not required in the days the building was erected) so that will not be a public space. If they were to try to run a brew vat there they would have to build it in place out of small pieces. So, I doubt that will happen.
Mysterious basement
One thing that's down there is a bunch of balls from the Build Zone event we hosted there in the spring - there were some holes in the floor that the kids found. I went down to find the balls but they must have ended up in a space that I couldn't figure out how to get to - it's kind of an unusual space. As dmk says, there is also a cool old vault and some other random office supplies.
Substation
Obviously everyone involved in this would have already considered it, but I'd be interested to know why the substation isn't an option for this. Lots of space in there...
Hope this happens of course, regardless of location.
Supposedly one of the issues
Supposedly one of the issues that helped put a kibbosh on the substation restaurant was some kind of major $$ work involving the power hookup. Whereas the landlord in this space seems to have been doing infrastructure improvements, so it may be more build ready.
Interesting
I'd figured that kind of issue would be well settled by now with the substation.
As noted previously, I'd love to read a news story outlining the current status of the substation in terms of money raised, spent and ownership of that space. It feels like it is 75% of the way to something great.
Parking
Ah, yes. Because what we need near a place that serves BEER is plenty of parking.
Parking??
This is less than a quarter mile from my house. Totally walking -- heck, stumbling distance!
Ouch
Some people actually know how to drink responsibly.
Not in Boston
Go to other cities and sure, people seem like they're not stumbling out of breweries into their cars.
In Boston, though? I've seen many people walk a bit unsteadily into the driver's seat. Don't worry.. they mostly hop on 93.
It's a brewery, not some
It's a brewery, not some skeezy dive bar. People go there to try out interesting new drinks and socialize, not get hammered.
It's also super walkable to anyone surrounding the square. It'll be a great addition to the nightlife options and will fill up a long-vacant parcel. I don't even drink beer and I'm psyched.
This is great news!
This is great news!
I found this page that lists the address as 2 Belgrade Ave:https://www.facebook.com/distractionbeer/ Does anyone know anything about them? It will be a great addition to the Square.
As an aside, I'm really excited about all the great new places opening up, but it does make me anxious about housing becoming even less affordable. It's sort of a blessing and a curse. Folks are now getting priced out of Roslindale, just as they were priced out of JP a number of years ago.
Does this location
include the Masonic Hall on the third floor of the building? Or is that a different street address? I would hate to see that beautiful facility go away.
Awesome if true! But...
Man, I'd love something like this, but I don't think I'll hold my breath. Given the failure to launch for similar substation project and specifically wrt this location -
- owner reps have stated non-interest in multiple inquiries by food-oriented interests (eg the owner of Jimmies);
- the space seems wicked small. Brewing commercial quantities requires a fair amount of space, even if you're just serving a local market;
- wasn't there already a vet going into this space? What happened?
http://www.bostonmagazine.com
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/2017/11/08/trillium-roslindale/
Trillium