When I first heard the Brewery was set for the chopping block, I freaked out... I literally cried at the thought of the loss of this amazing building. (and at this point, i had never been inside it- only taken photos of the facade and seen photos from within). I started researching the economics of the area and projects that had saved buildings like this- i'd been pretty active on Indiegogo and Kickstarter looking for 3-D printers, so i'd seen a few where they raised money towards something like this. The Huntridge Theater in Las Vegas was my case study- they raised $207,355 against a $150,000 goal to just put on an event to show the space was viable and worth saving.
Per their indiegogo campaign "Even if we raise this campaign’s full amount and end up with $150,000 or more, that’s obviously not even close to enough to lovingly renovate, and reopen, or even buy the Huntridge.
It will prove that community support exists to justify much larger private investment in a project that is motivated more by passion than just profits."
>So i decided to start an indiegogo for the Brewery, but i needed help. Photographer Walter Arnold (look here! ) had taken some amazing photos of the Brewery, so i asked if i could link to his images to show people what they were saving. He was all about it and suggested i contact June of Memphis Heritage to see how they could get involved in saving the Brewery. I'm sure my email came across as a little bit of begging, but i was desperate to get people in action- the newspaper article said we only had 30 days! I flooded my facebook feed with photos, links, requests for action, and down right pleading.
June was already in action. Memphis Heritage also sent out the call for people to save the Brewery and on a cold evening in January, Andy, Chris and I squeezed into a packed room at Memphis Heritage to brainstorm and discuss the future of a building. Our idea of the Brewery as a beer garden (and potentially the host of the annual brew fest) was well received (thank you Chris for speaking up and sharing it!)
>I'm loving the idea of using the Brewery as a pop up shop (i believe the MemShop folks had a hand in that! It's worked great in Crosstown and Broad Ave and i have my fingers crossed it's going to do its magic at the Brewery) Doing sectional revitalization as opposed to a top to bottom renovation means that you can make an impact with less initial investment. If only the first floor of the Brewery was utilized as a mixed use space for retail, food, and a performance venue, the whole building could be saved. (excellent piece here about ways to use the space that the whole city can enjoy)
I am looking forward to the next 6 weeks with cautious optimism. I am hoping that this will provide the basis for a long term sustainable and profitable use for the Brewery. I'm hoping that in July, i won't be mourning the loss of a landmark, a gorgeous building rich with history, uniqueness and a presence that takes me to another time. I'm hoping that i'll be able to say that i was involved in helping save something- that i helped make memphis a better place. Instead of letting it be the city that 'destroys its history and defiles the graves with stripmalls', instead of letting memphis continue to bear the label of "The City that Doesn't Care".
Keep tuned here, on my G+ page and my Facebook for updates and images.
And if you want to get involved:
Here's the link to the Untapped page on Facebook, and their Google+ page
Also, I recommend following Memphis Heritage on Facebook for info on this building and dozens of others in Memphis that are just as important.
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