The future of a St. Paul brewery is in question because of planned redevelopment nearby.

It’s happening at the Hamm’s Brewery Complex on the city’s East Side. St. Paul Brewing says those plans could impact the parking near their facility.

“It was the fifth largest brewery in the country,” St. Paul Brewing owner Rob Clapp said.

The site was home to Hamm’s Brewery for more than a century. Today, it’s St. Paul Brewing thanks in large part to Clapp.

“The original intent was always to restore and bring this back to life,” Clapp said.

Clapp says the biggest issue is the redevelopment could mean eliminating nearby parking spaces for his customers. It’s run by the city and has about 150 spots. The plan is to use some of the land to build 120 apartments.

“We will not survive if that parking lot goes away,” Clapp said. “Somebody wouldn’t invest millions of dollars into this property and only have 20 parking stalls.”

The city of St. Paul is working with a developer to add 209 units of affordable housing, a commercial marketplace, and more while preserving the site’s history.

Clapp suggests renovating the existing historic buildings first before gutting the parking lot.

“I’d like to take the safe approach and see how it works,” Clapp said.

The city and the developer argue it’s a transit-oriented site, good for biking and walking to. Clapp disagrees.

“Ninety-five percent of our guests drive here,” Clapp said.

While this stalemate is brewing, the team at St. Paul Brewing is hopeful they can continue to call this landmark home.  

“I’m optimistic because I’m not going to give up,” Clapp said.

In response to St. Paul Brewing’s concerns the city of St. Paul sent us this statement:

“The City has maintained the [Housing and Redevelopment Authority]-owned land and allowed for public parking in advance of development of the site. While there are no agreements for any particular business or entity to utilize this HRA-owned land for parking, we have worked with the housing developer to redesign the project to result in as much surface parking for public commercial use as possible. It’s a transit-oriented site with multiple bus stops nearby, direct adjacency and connections to the regional trails and regional bikeway systems, as well as street parking. The site is walkable to adjacent neighborhoods, and new residents on the site will be able to walk right next door to visit the businesses.” 

St. Paul spokesperson

More information on the project is available on the city’s website.