Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Iron Springs In Jeopardy

Iron Springs In Jeopardy

March 28, 2008 By Jay Brooks

Iron Springs Pub & Brewery, Marin’s newest craft brewer, may also be its latest casualty. Their lease is up this August and despite trying to negotiate in good faith to exercise the first of two five-year extensions since last September, their landlords won’t budge on a 60% rent increase. On Monday, the landlords — two wealthy local brothers—rejected a final offer. Now the case is set to go to binding arbitration, but barring a miracle it doesn’t look good for Iron Springs remaining in their present location.

And that’s a damn shame. Not only do they make some terrific beers, but in less than four years Iron Springs Brewing has become the eighth highest revenue generator in the town of Fairfax, and number three in terms of giving back to the community financially. Maybe I don’t understand business very well, but we’re in a recession right now, the real estate market is in freefall, our economy is tanking. That doesn’t strike me as the right time to gouge someone with a 60% rent increase. I’m told that there have been other ways in which the landlords have not dealt fairly, withholding information or not being completely truthful about aspects of the property, and while I can’t corroborate those they seem entirely consistent with this type of short-sightedness. The Plaza where Iron Springs is located once boasted full occupancy, including a large Albertson’s grocery store across the street, all owned by the same family. The grocery store has been empty two years and other tenants are likewise now gone with several more on their last legs. It would appear greed is destroying an entire town.

If you live in northern California—or are planning a visit to the Bay Area—make sure you stop by Iron Springs and show your support this spring and early summer, before it’s too late.

 

The famed Iron Springs AmBREWlance, which may need saving itself one day soon.
 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized



Comments

  1. Rick says

    March 28, 2008 at 10:25 am

    Now that is a shame. We’ve been there a few times, it seems odd that the owners would be pulling this at that location – I mean, it isn’t the easiest place to get to if you’re a tourist and, as you pointed out, isn’t exactly a bustling part of town these days. Here’s hoping, they seem like good people who make great beer and good food.

  2. Rob says

    March 28, 2008 at 11:25 am

    This is a damn shame. Mike and Anne opened their doors within days of us getting the keys to our first home, here in Fairfax, and I remember the distinct pride of knowing that the place we were settling down in had an honest-to-goodness public house. They’re valued members of the community, a huge source of revenue for the town, a draw for weekenders eager to hit the trails in our backyard, and I’m also happy to call them friends. The Fair-Anselm landlords should be ashamed, considering Fairfax’s already abysmal retail space vacancy rate. Go show your support, folks! Thanks for covering this story.

  3. Jeff says

    March 28, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    I don’t know this market but based on these comments it doesn’t sound like all hope is lost here. The arbitration process should involve analyzing comparable rents and sales. If the market is that bad it should be easy to make the brewer’s case.

  4. Loren says

    March 31, 2008 at 4:06 am

    Best of luck to them. Visited a year or so back and was extremely impressed. Not just by the fantastic beers but also by Mike’s overwhelmingly outgoing and passionate persona. Turned out he told us he was a transplanted NY Mets fan! Go figure!

    Best of luck to him and his family.

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Beer Bulletin Email

Enter your email address to receive daily digests:

Recent Comments

  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Martyn Cornell on Historic Beer Birthday: Anton Dreher Jr.
  • Lucy Corne on Beer Birthday: Lucy Corne-Duthie
  • Kendall Staggs on Beer In Ads #4341: Miss Rheingold 1955 Filling Yuletide Requests

Recent Posts

  • Beer Birthday: Jim Crooks March 24, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4389: Miss Rheingold 1957 Finalists In The News March 23, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Michael Brand March 23, 2023
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Maximilian Schaefer March 23, 2023
  • Beer In Ads #4388: Miss Rheingold 1957 Finalists In A Circle March 22, 2023

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe France Germany Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage Miller Brewing Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists Rheingold San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Sports Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video Washington

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

This month’s posts

March 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Feb    

BBB Archives

Go to mobile version