City of Albany seeks developer interested in bringing brewery back to life

ALBANY — A few months ago, the Pretoria Fields Brewery regularly filled a block on Pine Avenue with the sweet aroma of fermenting hops during the beer-making process.

The building has sat vacant since late 2024, when the business was closed after the primary creditor foreclosed on the business due to claims of defaults on several loans.

Today, passersby can observe stacked cans with the Pretoria Fields label through the windows when walking or driving by the 120 Pine Ave. location that was in business for about a decade before the doors were closed for the final time.

Considered by the city of Albany, as well as other area entrepreneurs, as a downtown “anchor,” the hope is that the vats will return to life and create a sweet smell of success that will bring a crowd back to lift a pint in the taproom and draw customers to neighboring businesses.

Before the doors were locked in November, the curbside parking spaces in the easternmost block of Pine Avenue were often filled, and on busy nights cars spilled over into a parking lot across the street. Traffic is noticeably thinner now in the evenings with the absence of the people who attended musical performances and other regular events like karaoke and Bingo nights at the brewery.

Now there is hope that an operator will move into the space and help bring back the crowds, with the city of Albany, which is also a creditor, looking for a vendor to move in.

“We have submitted directly to 76 operator and developers who might have an interest in the space,” Albany Downtown Manager Lequrica Gaskins said.

The requests for proposals are open until about the end of this month.

With the equipment available in the building, the hope is that the facility will be returned to beer-making, Gaskins said.

“As you know, the brewery is big downtown,” she said. “It is an anchor business. That location will complement the other downtown development that we have going on. There’s a second floor that has the option for office space. It can be more than a brewery.”

The traffic that the brewery brought downtown is noticeable, downtown business owner Glenn Singfleid said, but it is more than that.

“The No. 1 situation with the brewery is it brought symmetry to downtown,” said the owner of The Flint, which sits next-door to the former brewery. “It was a destination for downtown. People like craft breweries. I’d like to see it come back real soon.

“It allowed us to get spillage. We sent people in that direction. There’s not another anchor like it. We had a great tenant and a community partner, and when we do we have people patronizing it and visiting The Flint.”

The arrival of the brewery helped the area thrive, the businessman said.

“It gave the public a reason to come,” he said. “I’m not saying The Flint can do it alone. The brewery had a heavy weight on the scales for people to come downtown. Nothing happened before the brewery. When the brewery came, people began to come downtown.”

The city also has a role in ensuring the district is safe and clean, as well as bringing fresh thinking to the development, Singfield said.

Currently, there are several projects under way downtown, including a project for a store, maker space and tech center by the Commodore Conyers College & Career Academy. The Albany Museum of Art is looking to relocate at the former Belk building at the corner of North Washington Street and West Broad Avenue, and across the street an apartment development is planned.

The city is also looking for a developer to transform the former Water Gas & Light/Hotel Gordon and former Albany Herald/Rosenberg Brothers Department Store buildings into a hotel and event center.

“It (a brewery) would certainly enhance foot traffic downtown,” Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard said. “I know there’s proposals with hotels and loft apartments. I know there are several restaurants downtown, and they would like to see some more people coming to their facilities.”

At the moment, the creditors are “in alignment” with each other to make it possible for the city to accept proposals, Commissioner Chad Warbington said, creating an environment where it is possible to make a deal.

“It’s not just the city involved,” he said. “With that being said, we’ve made progress. I think the biggest thing is the legal mess it’s in. The brewery is kind of the linchpin of downtown.

“The goal would be for everybody to be made whole and for the city to have an anchor downtown project.”

One plus is that any potential owner will be able to walk into a ready-made brewing facility, the commissioner said.

“All you need is an operator to come in and turn the lights on and start making beer again,” Warbington said. “It’s a turnkey brewery.”

Breweries are a staple in many downtown areas and a popular destination, he said.

“We definitely need to get that up and running,” Warbington said. “I hope that somebody who comes in will have some new ideas in how to bring people in. What we’re primarily interested in is a local attraction driving foot traffic downtown.”