Metazoa Brewing pulls out of deal for pub on Allisonville Road in Fishers
Plans for a Metazoa brewpub in Fishers have been eighty-sixed.
The Indianapolis craft brewer has dropped plans to construct the dog-friendly business at 116th Street and Allisonville Road, citing soaring construction costs. Metazoa Brewing signed an economic development agreement in January to buy land from Fishers for $800,000 on the southeast corner and build a 10,000-square-foot brewery with three dog parks.
Fishers spokeswoman Ashley Elrod said rising building costs forced Metazoa to skirt the plan in July. The brewery would have been obligated to finish construction by September 2023, and the city would have offered economic incentives, according to the EDA.
“Since we first found out about the land being available in November, the costs have just about doubled," said Dave Worthington, Metazoa owner.
Last year, Worthington estimated it could build the brewery for under $3 million but the price now would be at least $5 million, he said.
So it’s back to the drawing board for both the city and the brewery.
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Fishers bought the land for $1.6 million in 2020 because it needs some of the busy intersection for scheduled intersection improvements in 2023 but wants to recoup a chunk of the cost by selling the rest of the lot to a business. Fishers is considering whether to put out a request for business proposals or seek a new buyer, Elrod said.
Worthington said he has not given up on Fishers and will search for existing buildings to move into rather than bear the expense of construction.
“But that was a great location,” he said of Allisonville Road. “I called it the corner of Main Street and Main Street.”
The search in Fishers won’t restart for at least another six months, though: Metazoa first plans to launch out-of-state distribution in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky this year. In preparation, the company opened a production plant on Indianapolis’ west side, at 202 Miley Ave., with five times as much brewing capacity as its College Avenue site.
An animal lover, Worthington opened Metazoa in 2016, at 140 S. College Ave., partly as a way to support animal welfare organizations, with 5% of profits going toward them. The Fishers location would have had two outdoor dog parks, for large and small dogs, as well as an indoor park.
It’s the second time Metazoa dropped plans to build a brewery north of their flagship spot. In 2019, the company nixed a proposal for Broad Ripple brewery near the Fresh Thyme grocery store. Worthington said the approval process left too little time for construction and the site was too small for what Metazoa had designed.
The intersection work at 116th and Allisonville, with right and left turns added, will be the first of several improvements on Allisonville. In April, the Board of Public Works and Safety approved a $85,000 study by HWC Engineering to recommend upgrades between 106th Street and 126th Street.
Worthington said the impending construction did not factor into his decision.
“Not at all, the city invited me to be on the steering committee,” he said.
Contact IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317 444-6418 and john.tuohy@indystar.com. Follow on Twitter @john_tuohy.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Metazoa Brewing scraps deal for pub on Allisonville Road in Fishers
