Coming soon: Wilmington's first production brewery in 64 years

When was the last time Wilmington had a production brewery -- a beer maker that packaged its brews for off-premise sale?

Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, Bill Haley & His Comets had a hit with "Rock Around the Clock" and I-95 didn't yet split the city in two.

It was 1954 when the Diamond State Brewery on Fifth Street closed for good and eventually was demolished, clearing space for the interstate.

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This spring – 64 years after Diamond State died – a new production microbrewery called Wilmington Brew Works will open on Miller Road at the long-dormant former site of the Harper-Thiel Electroplating Co., a restored brownfield.

Fresh beer in the tasting room, live music and perhaps a restaurant are expected to fill the 2.3-acre site, which will retain its iconic Spanish colonial-style look and red tile roof.

 While you won't see a bottling machine like Diamond State Brewery had when it produced 130,000 barrels a year, Wilmington Brew Works will be canning its 500 barrels of beer a year in a portion of the 11,000-square-foot building. The brews will be on draft at the brewery and the cans are expected to eventually be available at liquor stores and restaurants.

"It's going to be a whole new beer scene for Delaware," says Wilmington Brew Works owner/brewer Craig Wensell, formerly of Bellefonte Brewing Co. "We're going to make a little history for Wilmington.

"One of the things that shocked me and all of my friends in the brewing industry is just that statement. What major city in the United States can you go to now and say we're the first [production] brewery in the city limits in 60 years? There's no city left where that's the case."  

In the half-century since Diamond State's demise, a few breweries have come and gone within the city limits with Iron Hill Brewery now standing as the city's lone brewery. Another newcomer, Stitch House Brewery, is expected to open sometime later this year on Market Street near The Grand, adding to the city's locally-sourced offerings.

In late 2015, the Wilmington Urban Development Action Grant Corp., a quasi-governmental agency that holds abandoned brownfield projects while they are cleaned up, sold the property for $240,000 to Ralph and Rose Pepe.

The Talleyville couple also owns the 57,000-square-foot retail center Talleyville Towne Shoppes at Concord Pike and Silverside Road, along with Concord Pike Liquors.

The Pepes are leasing space to Wilmington Brew Works and are currently accepting inquiries from prospective restaurant partners, eyeing an eatery to complement the brewery. A food hall — a more modern, upscale reincarnation of the food court — could also fit, he says.

Patrons will be able to drink on an outdoor front patio, taking in a view of Haynes Park and listening to atmospheric live music, says Wensell, a former music professor and high school music teacher who founded his old brewery, Bellefonte Brewing Co., in his Bellefonte home as a brewing supply business in 2014.

From the street, passersby will see the stainless steel fermentation tanks in the front windows. Located in an area of the city with little to no nightlife or restaurants, this desert is about to get an oasis — a beer-filled oasis.

The Northern Delaware Greenway Trail, used both by bikers and for nature walks, passes right by the brewery and Wensell hopes the brewery will become a pit stop for its users.

It's worked down at the beach.

Revelation Craft Brewing Co. in Rehoboth Beach is located on the Junction and Breakwater Trail and often you'll see more bikes than cars out front. Revelation even sells their beer in "Browlers," a trademarked beer growler made to fit inside a bicycle's water bottle holder.

"Places like this is something I would want in my neighborhood. It's a place a lot of Gen X'ers and Millennials would want," says Wensell, 42, who will offer everything from IPAs and lagers to stouts and barrel-aged sours from the brewery's horseshoe-shaped bar. "The whole point of this project is to make fantastic beer, create great atmosphere to enjoy the beer and to be able to add to the community."

It's fitting that Wensell will be making Wilmington beer history when he fires up his canning line for the first time. The site is already rich with history.

Constructed in 1916, the space was used by Francis Irénée du Pont as an experimental laboratory. It's believed that inside the building — initially registered under the name The Delaware Chemical Engineering Co. — smokeless gunpowder was developed.

In 1946, the site was sold to Harry Thiel and his wife, who established the Harper-Thiel Electroplating Co. Harper-Thiel closed in 2000 and has remained vacant ever since due to contaminants in the ground.

The contamination was remediated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, which spent about $3 million during the last 15 years to make it safe. The process included excavating 3,600 tons of contaminated soil and removing about 100 barrels of chemicals that were left on the property from its electroplating days.

The special attention to the site's soil continued when the Pepes began developing the property with specialized workers and monitors on site to ensure its safety. His workers didn't hit any contaminated soil while digging to install a new drainage system, but they did find massive boulders they needed to break up.

It's exactly that time and effort that made it hard to find a buyer for the Harper-Thiel site in the first place.

At the time of purchase, Pepe told The News Journal that the estimated cost of the project would be $1.5 million, but now says, "It will be much more than that."

"Why did I do it? Sometimes I ask that question myself," he says with a chuckle. "But I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I think it's not only going to be an asset for the community, it's going to be a treasure."

Even though he knew the project on the restored brownfield could be fraught with potential hazards (financial and otherwise), Pepe says he has long eyed the location.

"I always thought it had a lot of potential and it certainly would have been easier to just knock it down and build something else," he says. "I really thought the building should be restored."

The city also has been assisting the Pepes with the project, funding street improvements on Miller Road and adding a sidewalk to make the area more walkable. There will be a parking lot in the rear with around 100 parking spaces, along with a few spots out front.

When completed, Mayor Mike Purzycki believes the complex will give the Ninth Ward a needed boost.

"That side of town could use a real positive statement from an investor/operator and it sounds like a perfect solution to energizing the commercial district there," he says. "Places like breweries are destinations. If you're good at what you do, they'll get in the car and find you."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).