Good City Brewing has moved on from its downtown events business in the wake of a devastating year for large gatherings.
The Milwaukee-based craft brewer will no longer run the 350-person event space above its brewery and taproom near Fiserv Forum, leaving operations in the hands of the property owner: the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks are in the process of “finalizing the future plans for the space,” Barry Baum, chief communications officer, said in an email Friday.
The team’s real estate development arm recently applied for a commercial alteration permit to build a demising wall in the southwest corner of Good City’s first-floor space. It would separate the taproom from the main entry way up to the now-Bucks-operated event space. The Bucks are also the operators of the directly-adjacent Mecca Sports Bar and Grill.
Good City opened its downtown location in January 2019 as the first tenant to join the Bucks’ Entertainment Block in the Deer District. The business originally agreed to lease 11,000 square feet between the upper and lower levels.
The second-floor space, known as Good City Commons, could be rented for corporate events, weddings and private parties.
“We had hoped to be in the space for many years, but the impacts of the pandemic were just too much to overcome in that part of our business,” Dan Katt, co-owner and CEO, said in a statement.
Good City’s first-floor taproom remains open, as does its location on Milwaukee’s East Side. Earlier this month, the brewer announced plans to open a third taproom, at the Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa.
Katt said he’s looking forward to when people can gather again in and around the arena to watch sporting events and concerts. Fiserv Forum has been closed to the public since mid-March, with a largely empty events calendar. Bucks and Marquette basketball games are currently being played without fans in the stands.
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