The former OddStory Brewing Co. location on M.L. King Boulevard has been revamped and renamed as The Greenhouse Barrel and Taproom with a grand re-opening set for Tuesday.
Father and son co-owners, Bryan and Jay Boyd, said they feel they hit on something people liked when they opened OddStory six years ago at 336 M.L. King Blvd. They soon learned they could do more, however, as the space didn't allow for a large food menu and it didn't offer much for families, so they expanded into a larger space on Central Avenue, which opened last fall.
The Greenhouse will focus more on the customers that helped build the business, Jay Boyd said.
"Central Avenue has been so well received," Jay Boyd said, "and the community has really embraced it with families coming by to hang out. The Central Avenue location will remain a family-friendly place, but MLK will be 21 and older."
He said The Greenhouse will represent both a nod to OddStory's past, but also complement and supplement the new space.
The larger space at the corner of Central Avenue and Main Street has 2.5 times the building space, plus 10,000 square feet of parking and 10,000 square feet of outdoor space, some with stone pavers and some with indoor-outdoor carpeting. It is also kid and dog friendly.
Boyd told the Times Free Press a year ago that the pair had plans for something different at the MLK location, and he said by phone on Thursday they they decided to pay homage to their original plans by celebrating the natural light in the space and to focus on brewing beer and specialty drinks.
"We've got these giant plants hanging from the ceiling," he said. "We will offer the beers we brew on Central Avenue, but we will also brew some things here and will keep some wild sours and some project beers that might age for a two or three years."
He said this is the first phase of the plans for The Greenhouse and that sometime in the spring they plan to convert the back part of the building into a bar and the area behind the back loading dock into a place for food trucks and shuffleboard.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.