DISTRICT BREWING
Project Description
Location: Mount Vernon, Washington
Project Size: 8,350 sq. ft. Brewery and Restaurant
Architect: Design | Build Project with Michael E. Smith F.A.I.A.
Facility Type: Brewery and Restaurant
Historic Movie House Becomes Brewery
Renovation Re-Purposes Theater for a New Century of Business
In 1923, date night meant the movies and popcorn. In 2020, entrepreneur Mark Shintaffer put a new spin on date night. Formerly Mount Vernon’s historic Lyric Theater, he opened family-friendly District Brewing.
Great ideas always take work. Renovating the 97-year-old theater into a brewery and restaurant was no small undertaking. To handle the tough job, Shintaffer contracted with Fisher Construction group for the design | build project on Mount Vernon’s Riverwalk plaza.
Fisher crews demo’d the interior of the structure down to the existing concrete walls and roof. The floor joists were removed and repurposed throughout the building for bar tops, tables and trim. While keeping the theater’s original layout with the upstairs mezzanine, a new foundation and slab were poured. Due to the soil conditions beside the river, 30 helical piles were driven around the perimeter of the foundation. As a result, they reinforced shared walls and the weight of the distillery tanks in the 2,750 SF brewing area.
Working closely with the owner’s equipment installation crews, Fisher staged construction to accommodate fitting the brewing tanks into the tight space. The 20′ storefront windows provide a full view of the brewing operations. The twelve stainless brewing tanks are now the stars of the show in the old movie house.
Renovations are always challenging. Fisher’s experience in solving unforeseen problems was undoubtedly a great help. From the tight site constraints to repurposed materials, the entire design | build team collaborated and found solutions throughout the project. Visit the new brewery and you’ll see the evidence of teamwork in every detail, large to small–and enjoy great pizza and brews too.