From renters to owners: How Palmetto Brewing's facility expansion came together

On April 28, 2017, Palmetto Brewing Co. closed on the purchase of its longtime location at 289 Huger Street, Charleston, S.C., and after 23 years, officially owns the place it’s called home since 1993. Big things are already in the works for the oldest craft brewery in South Carolina’s downtown neighborhood.

Inside the expansion

As the first craft brewery in South Carolina, Palmetto Brewing has been making great beer for the people since 1993. Once just a dream mused about during a windsurfing trip, today Palmetto Brewing makes four “core” beers and an ever-evolving collection of special brews. Palmetto beers can be found in grocery stores, convenience stores, bottle shops, restaurants and bars throughout South Carolina, North Carolina and the Georgia coast.

White Point Partners, a Charlotte development firm, bought Palmetto’s space and the adjacent buildings of its neighbors, Charleston Coffee Roasters and Brooks Signs, in 2015. The firm planned to demolish the entire space to create space for 200 apartments. With the understanding that they would need to vacate their longtime home, Palmetto purchased a 5.83-acre site in Park Circle’s Garco development to build a new brewery and planned to leave their Huger Street space when their lease expired in 2018. In February of this year, White Point Partners notified Palmetto of their intent to list 289 Huger Street for sale which opened up the opportunity for Palmetto to stay in its original location.

With the help of Charleston architect Luke Jarrett, Palmetto plans to expand their operations into Charleston Coffee Roasters’ former space once the coffee company moves to their new North Charleston space in June. Brooks Signs has moved to Warren Street and vacated their space, which will soon be torn down, giving Palmetto the opportunity to build a “living” wall with native greenery across the space that currently divides its courtyard from the former sign company. Other plans for the expanded Palmetto facility include additional storage and production space.

The owners of Palmetto still own the land at the Garco site in Park Circle and have made no decision about what will happen on that site at this time.

“When it came down to it, all signs pointed to staking our claim in the place Palmetto has called home since 1993,” said owner Larry Lipov. “There’s a lot of history and great memories for us in this space, so we took the leap. We still own the space in North Charleston, but for now it’s all about making our Huger Street home the best it can be, so we can keep making great beer that people enjoy. It feels great to own where you came from.”

Regulars at Palmetto Brewing can take comfort in the fact that the brewery’s popular weekly programming will continue: Wednesday is Burger Night; Thursday’s Open Mic Night; and Friday offers live music at the Loading Dock Series. The brewery is also still available for private events.