More than 700 truckloads of debris later, EPA leaves Drewrys Brewery site to South Bend

Jordan Smith, South Bend Tribune
Updated ·2 min read
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An aerial view facing north of the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. The photo shows what remains at the site after crews removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris.
An aerial view facing north of the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. The photo shows what remains at the site after crews removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris.

SOUTH BEND — South Bend officials are planning the next phases of the cleanup of the old Drewrys Brewery site after the Environmental Protection Agency removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris and loads of asbestos-containing material last fall.

Chicago-based Tetra Tech Inc., a technical assessment and response team for hazardous sites, outlined its three-month emergency cleanup on South Bend's northwest side in a report to the EPA this month. The need became urgent when site testing revealed asbestos and other toxic chemicals in debris piles following the haphazard demolition of multiple buildings by the former property owner, Steve Durkee.

An aerial view facing southwest of the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. Six buildings remain at the site after crews removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris.
An aerial view facing southwest of the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. Six buildings remain at the site after crews removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris.

From Aug. 15 to Nov. 7, according to the February report, crews sent the following material to Republican Services County Line Landfill in Argos:

  • 13,458 tons of construction and debris material, shipped in 728 truckloads

  • 630 cubic yards of friable, or easily crumbled, asbestos-containing material, shipped in 12 truckloads

  • Two tons of non-friable asbestos-containing material in one truckload

Crews also sent more than 60 containers of potentially hazardous chemicals to a chemical company in Ohio for further testing.

This is the old Drewrys Brewery site at 1408 Elwood Ave. in South Bend on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. More than 13,000 tons of demolition debris has been removed from the site.
This is the old Drewrys Brewery site at 1408 Elwood Ave. in South Bend on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. More than 13,000 tons of demolition debris has been removed from the site.

"Overall, the imminent and substantial threat to public health, welfare, and the environment — including wildlife — posed by the presence of asbestos and uncontrolled hazardous substances has been successfully mitigated at the site," the report concludes.

Responsibility for demolishing the six remaining buildings on site now falls to the city of South Bend. The city took over the 1408 Elwood Ave. property in 2022 through a St. Joseph County tax sale.

The South Bend Board of Public Works on Tuesday voted to request bids to tear down buildings, including the main bottling facility, and to clear out heaps of debris to make room for future redevelopment. All that's expected to remain are large white silos and a 150-foot concrete smokestack that's still structurally sound, according to senior project engineer Zach Hurst.

An aerial view facing east of the bottling facility at the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. The city plans to demolish this and other buildings remaining at the site.
An aerial view facing east of the bottling facility at the old Drewrys Brewery site, at 1408 Elwood Ave., captured by the South Bend Fire Department in December 2023. The city plans to demolish this and other buildings remaining at the site.

Hurst said last week that the city will require fencing to keep trespassers out of the demolition zone. People have been known to walk through the site and attempt to break into the old buildings, Hurst said. Tetra Tech's environmental report says someone stole a computer on Sept. 18 and disrupted clean-air monitoring.

The site is "clean, it's free of asbestos, but it's still very dangerous," Hurst said. "You see a lot of broken concrete. You see exposed rebar, so there are laceration and impalement risks."

What became the Drewrys Brewery building was built in 1868, years after German immigrant Christoph Muessel founded Muessel Brewery in South Bend. Distribution of Drewrys lagers' peaked in the 1960s, when hundreds of South Benders worked at the facility.

This is the old Drewrys Brewery site at 1408 Elwood Ave. in South Bend on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. More than 13,000 tons of demolition debris has been removed from the site.
This is the old Drewrys Brewery site at 1408 Elwood Ave. in South Bend on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. More than 13,000 tons of demolition debris has been removed from the site.

But operations abruptly ceased in 1972 as a few large brewers came to dominate the beer market. The site was later redeveloped for industrial use by OmniPlex. But by 2014, many of the old buildings were decrepit.

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend demolition at Drewrys Brewery site after EPA cleanup