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Apearing on Midcity Messenger Courtyard Brewery is about a year out from serving brews and other libations on the Lafitte Greenway, owner Scott Wood said after Courtyard cleared its regulatory hurdles with the city last week.

 

Wood said he expects the brewery to be open by Jazz Fest 2020 with a full array of liquid refreshments. It won’t be simply a tap room for the brewery’s wares, he said, but a restaurant, run by the folks from Turkey and the Wolf, and a full bar with creative cocktails plus wine, cider and even craft coffee, as well as selections from Courtyard’s 75 or so small-batch beers.

A quick slog through red tape

The approval process with the city was far quicker and easier this time around, said Wood, whose Lower Garden District brewery slogged through hearings and paperwork for nine months on its way to City Council approval.

Before it could begin construction, a micro-brewery needs city approval for brewery itself and, in this case, for secondary live entertainment functions and for on-site retail sales of its product. The new facility at 2745 Lafitte Ave., near Broad Street, got its OK from the full City Council on April 11, less than five months after the initial neighborhood meeting.

The relative ease in the approval process could be attributed to the Lafitte Greenway overlay district, designed to encourage development along the pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfare.

“This is exactly what we were looking for when we developed the zoning ordinance to create this sort of activity and destination along this major public investment in the greenway,” city planner Stephen Kroll told council members. “So it’s really a great complement to the greenway and a complement to the other businesses that have emerged.”

There is also a greater overall understanding and acceptance of craft breweries and brew pubs, said Wood, who opened the Lower Garden District brewery in 2013 with his wife Lindsay Hellwig. “We were the second post-Katrina to open,” he noted. “This is the 11th. The reason we’ve been successful is we have a track record in this city, we have a lot of good will.”

He also credited architectural firm One to One Design with keeping them on track and helping to create lines of communication to work with the neighbors.

Neighborhood relations

“We are first and foremost a small neighborhood brewery that strives to connect people and increase their quality of life,” Wood said. But for some of his future neighbors, quality of life was a concern when they learned a pub was moving in.

The Lafitte and Broad area is part light industrial and part residential, and the people who make their home there were worried about late-night noise, parking and other issues that surround a brew pub, especially with live music added to the mix. While neighbors generally supported the project, the original 2 a.m. closing time caused an outcry.

After negotiations with neighbors, the closing time was changed to midnight on weeknights and Sundays. On Friday and Saturday, Courtyard will close its doors at 2 a.m. but with a strict last call at 1:15 a.m. The brewery can have live entertainment, but no more than 12 times a year. The neighbors signed off on the project, District A Councilman Joseph Giarrusso told the council on April 11.

Parking was another concern with the neighbors. The off-street parking at the facility is for bicycles, not cars. “It was designed to encourage pedestrian and bicycle transit,” architect Charles Jones of One to One told the City Council.

The City Planning Commission, which tends to follow the same philosophy, gave its stamp of approval to the Courtyard Brewery parking plan.

Wood also said he is uncomfortable with people getting behind the wheel after consuming his product. “We know what our product does to affect lives if not used responsibly,” he said. “Craft brewers are focused on consuming less and enjoying more.”

He once took an informal poll throughout a busy weekend to find out how people got to his Erato Street pub. Only about 20 percent drove, with the rest taking a ride-share, walking or biking, Wood said.

But the new place on the greenway will be 8,000 square feet, plus a courtyard, and is bound to attract drivers.

Its busiest hours, however, will be at night, when workers at the surrounding businesses clear out of the area, leaving more street parking, Wood pointed out. He also expects some of his patrons to walk across the street after catching a movie at the Broad Theater.

 

Greater capacity

The building’s industrial look reflects its surroundings. But it will be friendlier to the environment than past uses, according to its architect.

“It incorporates many stormwater-management systems, including rain gardens, exposed cisterns, permeable pavers,” Jones said. “The project effectively transforms a vacant lot that is completely covered by impervious concrete to one that will have 50 percent more permeable area than required in the CZO (Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance).”

Wood is looking forward to increased brewing capacity and better equipment. “We’re finally going to be able to keep up with demand,” he said. “We’ve been over capacity since year one-and-a-half.”

The extra capacity will bring increased revenue, which he said they will use to provide health insurance and higher wages to the brewery’s employees.

It will also allow the creative juices to flow. “We will produce some of the same beers at the new place,” Wood said. “But our thing is experimentation and striving for excellence. Our consumer wants new things all the time. We are well adapted to that.

“And that’s my own brewing style. I get bored. I don’t want to brew the same thing all the time.”

He is planning some wine-beer hybrids, more sour beer and a “massive amount of IPA,” the Courtyard specialty. Out of the 75 beers on its roster, 44 are IPAs.

The Courtyard management is now putting together the other offerings, including food, a full array of craft cocktails, wine and coffee. “We want to hit all points, liquid-wise,” Wood said.