From streetcars to brews: Edmonton’s substation No. 600 redeveloping into microbrewery
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The old Street Railway Substation No. 600 on 124 Street is being transformed into one of Edmonton’s newest microbreweries.
The Art Deco-style building, which was built in 1938, caught the attention of Nathan Marculis and his wife, Wafa Veljee, earlier this year as the ideal location to start their business, Irrational Brewing Company. Last week the two signed a lease with owner Beljan Development with the plan to be up and running by next year.
On Tuesday during an event celebrating the start of the redevelopment, Marculis, who will be the head brewer, said he and Veljee are excited to see the project moving forward.
“We decided that Edmonton has such a great growing craft beer scene that we should hop on it and that’s what got us here today,” he said. “(We) started about a year and a half ago to try and open up a brewery and now we have this beautiful location.”
The substation was declared a Municipal Historic Resource in 2017 and then purchased by Beljan Development a year later to be redeveloped. The substation was originally built to provide electricity for the city’s streetcar system.
Marculis said the brewery will be using an electrical system to make beer, as opposed to a direct flame or steam, to honour the building’s history.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March, many local breweries have had to adapt by offering deliveries and curbside pickup. Marculis said he doesn’t expect adapting their business model will be too difficult if that’s what they have to do.
“We’ll have all the tools available (that) we’ll need if something like that happens again and we have to do curbside delivery,” he said. “We’ll be able to fill up growlers and howlers and things to go, and even home deliveries as well.”
Veljee said they have been getting a lot of help from the local brewing community.
“They’re kind of setting the stage and they have a great template ready,” she said. “(We) can basically learn from the people who have done it before. We’re very lucky in that sense.”
Ultimately, Veljee said the goal is to bring people to the area and have patrons sit down for a drink.
Nathan Raju, with Beljan Development, said he wants to bring in a number of retailers to the area, including high-end men’s clothing and a coffee shop. Beljan Development also owns the building next to the substation, which will be connected by a pedway.
Raju said a brewery will be a good fit for the area.
“This is actually almost a food corridor in a sense,” he said. “You got Northern Chicken, Meuwly’s, Woodshed Burgers, you got Duchess bakery. The one thing that was really missing on 124th street is a brewery.”
The entire redevelopment project is expected to be completed by spring 2021.
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