The Associated Press has put together a list of urban areas transformed by the introduction of microbreweries, and Ballard made the list. “In once rundown urban districts across the country, craft breweries have helped to transform the neighborhoods around them,” the AP writes. While our neighborhood doesn’t exactly fit the “rundown urban district” description, the statement does speak to the slow transformation of repurposing industrial buildings for small businesses (in this case, microbreweries) that draw a younger crowd.
Here is the AP’s take on our microbrewery explosion:
In the waterfront Ballard section of Seattle, home to fishing shops, shipyards and boat fueling facilities for decades, six breweries have sprung up in the past two years. They joined Hale’s Ales and Maritime Pacific Brewing, which both opened in Ballard in the 1990s.
Hale’s Ales in 1995 took over a facility that had housed an industrial hose manufacturer and before that a maker of engines.
The neighborhood has become “softer,” says Hale’s Ales manager Phil O’Brien. “What used to be fishing shops are little restaurants — what used to be hardware stores are now coffee shops.”
While Ballard is still a hub of maritime industry, it has landed higher-income apartment buildings and has attracted restaurants and nightlife.
Other cities that made the list include Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood, South Boston, Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, Williamsburg of New York City, and the East Bay of San Francisco. To read the article in full, click here.
Photo above taken at Reuben’s Brews
Plus: Follow @BallardBeer on Twitter for more brewery news, and check out our new Ballard breweries map to plan a tour.