New brewery slated for downtown industrial complex

Centerpoint Brewing, a partnership of three Rose-Hulman graduates and beer enthusiasts, said Tuesday that it has started construction on its roughly 17,500-square-foot space in the Circle City Industrial Complex and hopes to open by May.

The tasting room and production brewery will occupy new storefront space in the mammoth complex at 1125 E. Brookside Ave. on the city’s near-east side that’s being redeveloped by Teagen Development Inc.

The complex sits near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and 10th Street and is just a stone’s throw from the Monon and Cultural trails.

Centerpoint Brewing will house a 30-barrel brewing system with fermentation capacity to initially support annual production of 3,000 barrels—a pretty aggressive goal for a new, locally based brewery. When Sun King Brewing Co. opened in its 18,000-square-foot downtown space in 2009, its initial business plan was to sell 5,000 barrels annually by its fifth year. (Sun King, of course, blasted through its expectations, and after its first 13 months was producing at a rate of about 6,000 barrels per year.)

Production will focus on four signature beers—Kolsch, Porter, Red IPA and Belgian Dubbel—along with specialty and seasonal selections. Locally made snacks will be available along with offerings from various food trucks.

Home brewers and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology graduates Jonathan Robinson, Peter Argiris and Jeff Ready (CEO of Scale Computing) have partnered as co-founders of Centerpoint Brewing. They were not immediately available for comment on their business plans and the cost of the project.

A new 30-barrel system easily can cost as much as $1 million, according to finance website NerdWallet.

Efforts are under way to convert part of the 539,000-square-foot Circle City Industrial Complex into “maker space”—a collaborative area where artisans have access to industrial tools and programming.

Teagen Development, the building’s new owner, and the Riley Area Community Development Corp. are renovating the south end of the complex—a portion that is roughly 120,000 square feet. The maker space will take up about a quarter of that, with the rest allotted for retailers, restaurants, offices and studios.

The north end houses several manufacturers, including the not-for-profit RecycleForce, the building’s largest tenant.