Chattanooga: Southside brew pub makes debut

In planning their new Southside brewery and restaurant, Geoffrey Tarr, Matt Lewis and Ryan Chilcoat aimed to combine the best parts of the wedge-shaped building’s history with some of the newest green technology available.

The Terminal BrewHouse, housed in a 100-year-old building next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo off Market Street, features exposed brick walls and uses a tankless water heater, double-flush toilets and waterless urinals in the bathrooms.

The Terminal opens today after about nine months of construction, turning the crumbling building into the restaurant and brewery.

The owners, two of whom also own the Hair of the Dog Pub in the city, said they wanted their new restaurant to be approachable to a large demographic.

That meant incorporating environmentally friendly elements with a neighborhood feel, using locally grown ingredients and keeping the historical feel of the building intact.

“We’re local guys opening a local business, and we want to be everybody’s neighborhood bar,” Mr. Tarr said. “We’ve been very deliberate about the decisions we’ve made.”

Construction started on the Terminal in April and was done by Eastman Construction. Joe Sliger of Eastman bought the three-story, 6,000-square-foot building in 2006 for $171,000.

Mr. Tarr estimates that at completion, the total investment in the building and the restaurant, designed by Chattanooga-based Elemi Architects, has been about $1.5 million.

So far the owners have hired about 30 people but plan to bring on 10 more.

In the interest of maintaining a local focus for the restaurant, the owners hired local woodworker Aaron Cabeen to build all of the eatery’s 27 tables and vanities for the four bathrooms. His signature piece is a large table on the second floor that fits into the building’s unusually shaped corner, facing Market Street. It’s shape is a unique cut to just fit inside and allows for about 11 people to sit around it.

“We call it the gangster’s table,” Mr. Cabeen said.

Like the so-called gangster’s table, all of Mr. Cabeen’s tables were made from reclaimed wood, some of which came from old abandoned houses and churches.

The philosophy to keep the restaurant green with local meat and vegetables extends to the kitchen, where cooks will prepare locally raised bison fed grain used in the brewery’s beer-making process. The grain spent from making beer will go to Niedlov’s Breadworks where the restaurant’s bread will be made.

To keep the restaurant’s atmosphere cozy and intimate, the owners used light and dark wood throughout all three levels.

“The two most important things for the restaurant are great atmosphere and great location,” Mr. Lewis said.

The brewery portion of the Terminal occupies space in the bottom floor of the building. Large, silver containers hold liquid and grains at different points in the beer-making process.

Brewmaster Steve Purdie said he plans to start with six different types of beer, which are stored chilled under the bar and pumped directly through the taps and into customer’s glasses.

Just one floor up, a green roof sits atop the first-floor kitchen, and allows for a grass-covered beer garden for those on the second floor. Mr. Tarr said the beer garden will open in the spring.

Mr. Tarr and Mr. Lewis said they have concerns about opening a business in a troubled economy, but they remain optimistic.

“If you offer a good product, people will come,” Mr. Lewis said.