New Brewery, taproom part of warehouse revamp on East Side

'This will help the community be more engaged,' investor says

SAN ANTONIO – A brewery, taproom, restaurant and office space will soon be part of a warehouse revamp project on the city's East Side.

The new project is taking place in the Denver Heights neighborhood near Highway 37 and just south of the Alamodome.

The old 30,000 square foot warehouse sits abandoned and empty on Delaware Street next to train tracks. Its facelift and the concrete open space, however, will soon house Viva Brewery, the taproom, a restaurant and office space.

In addition, the building will also provide a free space for the community to use for meetings or events.

Ross Ormand is one of the investors for this property who believes this project will bring more economic growth to the area.

"I think this will help the community be more engaged," Ormand said.

Bobby Jones and Michael Johnson have been brewing beer out of their garage for years as a hobby but this past year and a half, they started Viva Brewery.

They have been looking for a space to call home and said they are excited to be coming to the East Side.

"San Antonio's East Side is a wonderful and growing thriving community that we want to be part of," Jones said.

The community's been incredibly gracious to us and supportive," Johnson said.

Ormand said that, even though the area might not look like much now, the growth happening downtown and its timing could not be better.

"The way all the development and revitalization that's going on with downtown with Hemisphere -- Hemisphere kind of extends all the way to the highway with tower park that will be the next phase," Ormand said.

"Lends itself to coming downtown to this part of town. And I think it's just a natural extension of what's already going on," he said.

Construction for the project is expected to start late September with the hopes of it being done by the end of 2020, Ormand said.


About the Authors:

Sarah Acosta is a weekend Good Morning San Antonio anchor and a general assignments reporter at KSAT12. She joined the news team in April 2018 as a morning reporter for GMSA and is a native South Texan.