Sudbury's long-vacant old Northern Breweries property has been posted for sale again, this time for $1.95 million, which is $700,000 more than its 2018 listing price.
The “iconic” building has been “a landmark in Sudbury for over a century,” according to the latest real estate listing.
Its total building area is approximately 60,000 square feet, and it’s on 2.1 acres of land.
The listing also mentions its proposed redevelopment as The Brewer Lofts, a 50-unit condominium project with approximately 20,000 square feet of commercial/light industrial space, which has never come to fruition.
The building was last posted for sale in 2018, when it was listed at $1.25 million.
Although owner Greg Oldenburg reportedly spent less than the $850,000 asking price when he purchased the property in 2012, the real estate listing of the day notes that money had been invested in the property since that time.
An “enormous amount of work” had been done in planning for The Brewers Lofts, the advertisement of the day noted, citing a building structural review, land surveys and other efforts to support development options.
The building has largely been unused since Northern Breweries closed in 2004, despite efforts in 2005-2006 to save the business.
Oldenburg introduced the idea of a condominium project several years ago, and in 2017 sought $9.5 million in municipal grants, tax exemptions and a personal loan to help fund the project. Included in the $9.5 million would have been an interest-free loan of $4.5 million under the city’s brownfield strategy program, which had an annual limit of $250,000. City council rejected the application during 2018 budget deliberations.
Oldenburg shot back, criticizing council’s rejection as exemplifying “contempt” for private developers.
Although city council later approved $4.1 million in community improvement program incentives for the project in 2019, they can’t be accessed until certain benchmarks are met, such as taking out building permits or completing other aspects of the project. A city spokesperson confirmed on Oct. 13 that no money has been paid toward the project to date.
Meanwhile, Oldenburg has applied for and received multiple zoning application extensions from city council.
Last year, Oldenburg said the 50-unit project was being reworked to accommodate an additional 14 units.
Earlier this year, Oldenburg promoted the building as a candidate to host a new Art Gallery of Sudbury. The city’s elected officials have not directed staff to pursue this option.
Sudbury.com reached out to Oldenburg for comment but have not received a response.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
