IT'S REALLY REALLY BIG.
Chances are, you’re reading this blog post hoping that we will finally announce the opening date of our new location in Collier, I’m sorry to say, that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We know you’re excited, we are too! There is one really big reason we aren’t ready to release a timeline just yet. One really really big reason…
It’s hard to express just how big this place is. We can say 55,000 square feet all we want but it can be difficult to reconcile that number, to visualize what that actually means. So, let’s try to put this into perspective:
The White House is approximately 55,000 square feet A football field with both endzones is 57,600 square feet Roughly 1.3 acres Half a hectare (whatever that is) Roughly 3.5 Trader Joes (3 if you include parking lots)
It’s just so big! And not only is it big, there’s a whole lot of weird stuff left over from the Missile Master days.
LET'S TALK ABOUT VENTILATION, BABY
As many of you know, this building was initially constructed during the Cold War to serve as the command center for the thirteen missile silos protecting Pittsburgh. What you may not know, is that it was built to withstand a nuclear missile strike, and to keep the occupants alive inside until it was safe to leave again.
Possibly the most amazing feet of engineering in this building is the ventilation system, designed to pump fresh, breathable air through the massive space while the outside world is steeped in radiation.
The above photo was taken inside one of the buildings filtration systems (beer can for size). Each of those vertical inserts is similar to what you might put in your window mounted air conditioner, and this thing has hundreds of them.
The vents themselves are equally huge, as you can see in the above photo (beer can and person for scale).
Needless to say, we no longer need a ventilation system quite this large, and given the age on the equipment, it needs to be removed before we can start building the brewery.
We are getting there, but we still have a ways to go. Sewage lines, water access, and more are still ahead of us.
When we first purchased the building we had a very long talk about how and when to announce the expansion. We knew this would be a very long project, and the way we saw it, there were two option: keep it quiet until it was close to done, or make it public and do our best to keep you updated.
For us, it was a no brainer. We would rather say “sorry, there is no timeline yet” a million times than keep this exciting news from you (and honestly, keeping anything a secret in this industry is nearly impossible).
THANK YOU
Thank you for your support. Thank you for your excitement. Thank you for spreading the word. Thank you for reading this post. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for everything. Without you, there would be no insanely massive building with insanely massive air ducts where, someday, we will serve you some insanely good beer.
