By Ryan Spoehr - May 6th 2024

 

JANESVILLE

The Janesville Plan Commission approved a conditional use permit Monday for a two-story addition to O’Riley and Conway’s at 214 W. Milwaukee St. that would house a microbrewery and have additional seating.

The commission expressed concern about lighting an adjacent alleyway and ensuring an elevator would be built. Brandon Leeder, an architect with the Angus-Young firm, told the commission that those items would be addressed.

“I think it’s a great addition to the downtown. It’s a nice-looking building and we wish them all the best,” Commissioner and City Council member Paul Williams said.

Owner Joe Quaerna submitted the request for a conditional use permit to construct the microbrewery. The addition would be a 4,250-square-foot, two-story add-on to the existing O’Riley and Conway’s. The building is .12 acres in size as it stands now, but the addition would increase it to about .32 acres.

Quaerna will need two permits — one for brewing and one for distilling. He will need to relinquish his Class B liquor license for the existing tavern per state statute for adding the microbrewery, but the business may continue to sell alcohol under the microbrewery license that it will apply for as the building addition progresses, according to Associate Planner Trae Meyer’s report to the commission.

On the second floor would be a variety of seating, brewing and distilling tanks, bar space and a stage. Also on the second floor there would be a mezzanine with additional seating and more brewing equipment.

A parking lot on the site would be demolished so a new one could be built on the property with 15 stalls. According to the report, there is a plan for off-site parking as well. The existing curb cut along West Milwaukee Street that had allowed vehicles to exit the drive-thru of the former bank next door would be closed and restored. There would be green space added as well.

A microbrewery is a place business licensed by the state of Wisconsin to be operated as a brewery and operated for the production of 60,000 barrels of fermented malt beverages or less annually and the “sale of said beverages for onsite consumption or in sealed containers for consumption offsite.

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