South Bend to consider legal action after Bare Hands brewpub fails to open by deadline
SOUTH BEND — After a local brewery missed its Sept. 1 deadline to open a brewpub near Four Winds Field, a city agency will consider legal action on a development agreement that's been delayed for five years.
Granger-based Bare Hands Brewery, which was already sued by the city once, was supposed to open a brewery and restaurant in downtown South Bend in 2018, according to an initial agreement. In 2016, the South Bend Redevelopment Commission sold the former Gates Service Center building, at 331 W. Wayne St., to Bare Hands for $1 in exchange for the brewpub.
Caleb Bauer, executive director of community investment, said in a statement that the commission will discuss at its Sept. 14 meeting whether to issue Bare Hands a letter of default — a claim that the business breached its contract.
Since the 2016 agreement, Bauer said, Bare Hands has made "minimal progress" to open its anticipated site within walking distance of South Bend Cubs games.
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The last formal change to the agreement was to give the brewery an additional month to pass a required building inspection earlier this year. Bare Hands passed that inspection by March 1, a city spokeswoman said.
Bare Hands did not respond to a phone call or an email requesting comment on Wednesday. On a page of its website, the company continues to advertise a Sept. 1, 2023, opening day for "The South Bend Brewery and Taproom."
Speaking to commissioners this February, owner Chris Gerard said, "I understand that you're frustrated that it's taken us this long, and we're going to do our best to finish it by the deadline."
The city has sued Bare Hands before, when the brewpub missed its 2018 deadline to open. But a nearly two-year dispute ended in January 2020 with the brewery's promise to invest $456,000 in the building and to open a brewery and restaurant within two years.
With the upheaval of the pandemic, that deadline was extended two more times to Sept. 1, 2023. Gerard said this February that he had been reluctant to move forward with construction while restaurants across the nation struggled to stay afloat.
If the city were to sue Bare Hands, this would be its second lawsuit this year against a business that allegedly failed to honor its agreement with the redevelopment commission.
This January, the city sued East Bank developer David Matthews for $7.5 million after he didn't open a full-service grocery store or pharmacy on the ground floor of the high-rise apartment complex he built at 300 E. LaSalle Ave.
Lawyers for Matthews filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the city wrongly asserts he was in "total breach" of the contract despite his completed 144-unit apartment complex. A judge took the matter under advisement this July and has yet to issue a ruling.
City officials have said the commission ought to function as a business partner that spends taxpayer money in exchange for economic growth benefiting the public. It's imperative, they say, to reclaim public money when those promises aren't met.
Matthews, however, warned of the chilling effect such a stance may have on future businesses looking to invest in the area. He told The Tribune last September that clawing back $7.5 million "for a delay in construction after going through COVID is a terrible message" to other developers.
Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at 574-235-6480 or JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jordantsmith09
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bare Hands Brewery again fails to open South Bend site by deadline
