Apartments planned for long-vacant Red Bell Brewery in Brewerytown

A long-vacant brewery in Brewerytown is set to be converted into apartments and retail, with a developer’s recent purchase of Red Bell Brewery for $4.12 million.

Last week Colliers International Philadelphia announced that it concluded the sale of the 204,276-square-foot brewery to MMPartners. The developer isn’t sharing specific details just yet, but has plans to convert the property into apartments with ground-floor retail.

“We are really honored to have the opportunity to acquire this building and bring it back to life,” said David Waxman, MMPartners founder and managing partner. “It’s a truly unique property that we are beyond excited to be working on.”

MMPartners is based in Brewerytown and is behind some of the neighborhood’s biggest redevelopment projects, including the most recent conversion of the Pyramid building at 3101 W. Glenwood Avenue into apartments.

The purchase of Red Bell Brewery is one of their larger purchases to date. The brewery sits on about 2.25 acres and dates back to the 1890s when it was built for the F. A. Poth & Sons Brewing Company. Later, it was owned by Abe L. Brewery.

Red Bell Brewery was the most recent tenant up until the early 2000s, when it closed up shop. The property has remained vacant for nearly two decades.

The brewery was most recently purchased by another developer in 2016 for $1.85 million. Plans were in the works to turn it into 147 apartments with ground-floor retail.