Ohio’s Saucy Brew Works to expand in Charlotte with a huge brewpub and Airbnb

The big picture: The Cleveland-based Saucy Brew Works brewery and pizza restaurant plans to open its fifth location, and first East Coast location, here in Charlotte at 501 E. Morehead Street across the street from the Dowd YMCA. This will be the first with an Airbnb next-door.

Once complete, the property will be Charlotte’s largest brewery — larger than both Brewers at 4001 Yancey (28,000 square feet) and Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (25,000 square feet).

[Related Axios guide: Complete list and map of Charlotte’s 30+ local breweries, plus the most popular beer at each]

What to expect: Crews will begin demolition of the existing building in January 2022, and construction will take about nine months to a year, Saucy’s CEO and co-founder Brent Zimmerman tells me.

• The two-story brewpub will have an enclosed penthouse space, plus a nearly 10,000-square-foot rooftop deck.
• There will be at least 20 beers on tap, plus coffee and a full food menu centered around Saucy’s New Haven-style pizzas (thin-crust, coal-fired).

Drink this: The most popular beers at Saucy Brew Works are “Juicy ASAP” and “Love You, Bye,” a hazy Imperial IPA, according to Untappd.

Background: The name “Saucy” has three meanings, says Zimmerman, who founded the brewery with brewmaster Eric Anderson in 2017. “One of the reasons is saucey pizza, one of the reasons is getting sauced. And one of the reasons is that we’re kind of saucey people — we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”

• After opening its first location in Cleveland in 2017, Zimmerman and Anderson expanded in Ohio and to Detroit, Michigan. They hope to continue expanding in the Southeast to cities like Tampa and Nashville with help from crowd-funding.

They chose Charlotte as their first SouthEast expansion, in part, because of Charlotte’s large Ohio transplant base. Some days it can feel as if there are more Ohio natives here than native Charlotteans.

• Development writer Jason Thomas, an Ohio native, first reported that Saucy Brew Works is coming to Charlotte.

But Dilworth also called Saucy’s name for Zimmerman’s love of restoring historic properties. While the brewpub’s building will be rebuilt from the ground-up, the historic Mayes House next-door will remain and be renovated as a 7-room Airbnb.

• Zimmerman anticipates the Airbnb opening first, then the brewpub.
• The Mayes House is currently home to a law office, and the building at 501 E. Morehead is home to offices of an attorney, chiropractor and home builder.

Details: Zimmerman says they’ll work in partnership with Cleveland developer GBX Group, which specializes in historic real estate. The architect on the project is David Maison of Maison Design.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited with more detail on the 7-room Airbnb (not bed-and-breakfast).