SOUTH BEND — A tall smokestack still remains near Elwood Avenue as a reminder of what once existed at the site of Drewrys Brewery.
The buildings have been removed and the contaminant remediation has taken place on the 14 acres next to Muessel Grove Park. A few foundations still stick out of the ground, but the flat land ends what was a longtime struggle by the city to clear the property that had not seen brewery operations since 1972.
At its Tuesday, Jan. 21 meeting, the Plan Commission heard the city’s proposal to rezone the land from industrial to neighborhood uses. South Bend officials hope to encourage some sort of residential development, a move that would allow people housing that could take advantage of the park’s amenities.
The measure now goes to the Common Council for a vote. The rezoning petition is expected to be discussed and considered on Monday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. in the fourth floor council chambers in the County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd.
The buildings that once stood at 1408 Elwood Ave. in the Drewrys Brewery complex are now gone as seen on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. The city is trying to rezone the land for future residential development.
End of long process
For more than a decade, the former Drewrys property has been at the center of a tumultuous relationship with a former owner, Phoenix-based Steve Durkee. Promising to develop the building over the years, Durkee and the city spent years with the City Code Enforcement levying fines for cleanup schedules, only for the cleanups failing to be done.
The city eventually secured the site in mid-2022, and afterwards worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the site, which was known to have asbestos and other toxic agents there. The EPA spent $1.7 million to remove 14,000 tons of demolition debris. The city also had earmarked $4.17 million from the American Rescue Plan to pay for the demolition of large commercial buildings.
This is the old Drewrys Brewery site at 1408 Elwood Ave. in South Bend on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. More than 13,000 tons of demolition debris has been removed from the site.
Some of the foundations will be removed this year, according to Joseph Molnar, assistant director of growth and opportunity.
“The city’s intention is to redevelop the site into a mix of housing options,” Molnar told the plan commissioners. “We think it is a great opportunity, (being) with adjacent to a park in a neighborhood, as well as adjacent to the new Coal Line Trail.”
The Elwood Avenue building was built in 1868, years after German immigrant Christoph Muessel founded Muessel Brewery in South Bend. According to earlier Tribune accounts, Drewrys Limited of Canada purchased Muessel Brewing in 1936. Demand in the country for Drewrys lagers was strongest in the 1960s, and the facility employed hundreds of workers.
An aerial view facing east of the bottling facility at the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. The city plans to demolish this and other buildings remaining at the site.
But larger beer distributors hastened its demise, and the Drewrys plant closed in 1972. Omniplex operated out of the buildings for a time, but the buildings became vacant before Durkee purchased them in 2014.
As for the smokestack, Molnar said the engineering study of the structure indicated that it was sound. The stack could be painted and used as a symbol in any future development, he suggested.
Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend plans mixed residential use for old Drewrys site with rezoning
