The former Iron Hill Brewery building in Media (Image courtesy of Google StreetView)
Residents, business owners, and industry leaders all want to know
Right in the unit block of East State Street, in the heart of “Everybody’s Hometown” sits a large brick building with a shiny window front and clean black roofing. It is the former Iron Hill Brewery in Media. But now that it has closed its doors for good, what will take its place?
Iron Hill shuttered its doors in October, filing for a $20 million bankruptcy.
“This isn’t the ‘good’ type of bankruptcy, the type where you declare bankruptcy so you can restructure your business and move on,” wrote Victor Fiorillio for Philadelphia Magazine. “This is the bad type of bankruptcy, where you throw your hands up in the air and scream, ‘I’m done!’”
Recently, the Philadelphia Inquirer took a look at the question on everyone’s in Media’s mind: what will become of the now-empty space? What would replace Iron Hill in the center of Media’s robust community? According to the Media Business Authority, “a number of exciting potential replacements” have been in touch.
General Manager of State Street Pub, Rick Whittington, said he recalled a time when neighborhood bars got spillover diners, waiting on tables. Since then, he said crowds have gotten smaller.
“A local business would probably be best-received, but being such a large space, it would have to be an established local business,” said Whittington. “It’s just daunting. To be able to afford that space, you’d have to put a lot of butts in seats.”
According to recent reports, the former CEO of Famous Dave’s, Jeff Crivello, plans to buy up 10 of the former Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant locations. It has not yet been released if Crivello plans to keep the locations as Iron Hill establishments or open other concepts.
What do you think should replace the former Iron Hill Brewery?
