AVONDALE — Metropolitan Brewing is permanently closing.
The beloved Chicago brewery and taproom will close after service on Dec. 17, owners Doug and Tracy Hurst announced on social media Tuesday. The taproom along the Chicago River will be open its normal hours every day until then except for Thanksgiving, the owners said.
Metropolitan’s closure comes after nearly 15 years in business and follows a last-ditch effort to save the brewery from mounting financial trouble.
The Hursts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to unsustainable debt, a years-long rent dispute and “tepid” retail sales, the Tribune reported last month. They’d hoped the move would help the business “reorganize” and “right our ship,” they wrote.
But the owners said Tuesday they were unable to solve their “differences with our landlord,” forcing them to close. They have no plans to revive the business elsewhere once they shut down, they wrote.
“We are grateful for every soul that passed through our doors, both on Ravenswood and on Rockwell,” the owners wrote on Facebook. “And we are deeply sorry that we couldn’t see our way through this current situation. We tried. For years. But now it’s time to turn toward new adventures.”
Founded in 2009, Metropolitan Brewing, 3057 N. Rockwell St., is one of Chicago’s oldest craft breweries, known for its seasonal German-style beers.
Metropolitan initially opened in Ravenswood. By 2013, the company started looking for a bigger space to brew larger quantities of its craft beer to keep up with demand.
The Hursts moved into the Rockwell on the River space in 2017. Landlord Paul Levy retrofitted the 1880s tannery next to the Chicago River into a campus for artisans and food makers.
The Hursts began disputing their rent in late 2019, after years of trying to figure out why the brewery was struggling to cover the rent despite strong sales, Tracy Hurst previously told Block Club.
They’d discovered the lease they’d negotiated was for about 24,000 square feet, but the lease they were given to sign was for about 33,000 square feet, Tracy Hurst said.
After the Hursts withheld rent payments, saying they’d been overcharged for space the brewery doesn’t occupy, Levy moved to evict the brewery in late 2020. The Hursts countersued in 2021, accusing the landlord of improperly inflating the square footage in their lease, the Tribune reported.
The Hursts eventually agreed to pay nearly $25,000 a month in rent while the legal battle continued, the Tribune reported.
The brewery owes more than $1 million in back rent and fees, according to the bankruptcy filing.
“If we wanted to evict them, frankly, we could have proceeded at any point in time,” Jason Metnick, an attorney for Levy, told the Tribune. “But the landlord has been trying to work things out for a really long time.”
Additionally, the brewery owes more than $1 million to Live Oak Bank in North Carolina for an equipment loan as well as $389,000 for an Economic Impact Disaster Loan made during the pandemic, according to the bankruptcy filing.
“We’re optimistic that moving forward, if we can reach some agreements with the landlord and creditors, we will be able to be profitable,” Doug Hurst told the Tribune.
Tracy Hurst did not immediately return messages seeking further comment.
Read the Metropolitan Brewing team’s full statement below:
Friends, fans, and family,
We’re here to confirm that we’ve been unable to resolve our differences with our landlord, and are left with no choice but to close our business. The last day our tap room will be open is Sunday, December 17th from 11am to 9pm. We have no current plans to rebuild or revive Metropolitan Brewing in a different location, so if you like our beer — come load up!
The tap room will be open every day (except for Thanksgiving day) for the usual hours until December 17th. If you have table reservations before then, we’ll honor them, of course. So many people have already reached out offering help, and honestly, the best thing for us right now would be for you to visit the tap room, drink some beer, take to-go beer with you, and take good care ($$) of the team behind the bar. Stock up for the holidays. Grab a case of your favorites. Grab two.
The last 15 years are a treasure trove of memories. We worked hard. We worked as a team. We looked out for each other as we navigated some pretty scary shit. We are grateful for every soul that passed through our doors, both on Ravenswood and on Rockwell. And we are deeply sorry that we couldn’t see our way through this current situation. We tried. For years. But now it’s time to turn toward new adventures.
We truly love and will miss you. Thank you for being the best fans we could ever hope for.
Doug, Tracy, & Team
‘There’s Not Quite Another Place Like This’
Early Tuesday afternoon, about a dozen beer fans were enjoying steins of beer while enjoying the early winter sunset view from the riverside taproom’s large glass windows.
Some were surprised to hear about the closure, but others like Colin Carlson had read the owners’ social media posts and headed over to stock up on beer before the brewery stops production for good.
“My buddies and I have a game night every Tuesday night, so I can’t stick around and drink here. But I’m loading up on beer for the next couple of game nights,” Carlson said. “Since the whole thing has come out, with their bankruptcy, I just kind of made it my routine on Tuesdays after work to come here and grab a couple of sixers.”
Carlson and his wife are regulars who started dropping by the taproom as the city started loosening pandemic restrictions on dining and gathering, he said. During that time, he’s appreciated the brewery owners’ commitment to building community in the Avondale area. Besides the excellent beer, that’s what he’ll miss the most once it closes, Carlson said.
“There’s a calendar behind the bar that’s from the Avondale Gardeners Alliance,” he said. “One of the things they did was a seed swap in the spring where Metropolitan would let them use their production space several days in a row to do a seed swap,” he said.
Other previous events at the brewery included a bingo events for Lane Tech High School’s computer club and Avondale Mutual Aid, he said.
“That’s kind of biggest hole I see opening. There’s not quite another place like this that’s bringing together and supporting those communities,” he said.
When the brewery completed its move into the a retrofitted tannery in 2017 it was one of the only anchors for the riverside campus. Since then the campus has expanded to include the Chicago Ceramic Center, a riverside marina with electric boat rentals and a distillery.
“I see a lot of smaller businesses right here. And to me, they feel very reliant on Metropolitan being here,” Carlson said. “And I think Metropolitan being gone is going to make a struggle for them to make a go of things. I think it’s going to kind of leave a dead space in the area once they’re gone.”
Patrick Noack was enjoying a beer while working on a crossword puzzle, and said he’s pretty sad the brewery will soon be closing.
“They make a great product. It’s a shame that this is gonna be going away,” he said. “They did a great job with this space, with a vision, because when they first opened this place, it was rubble. I think the owners did a lot of things right, and it’s unfortunate the way it’s ending.”
Midwest Nice co-owners Brandon Comerford and Kaitlin Fletcher closed the Lincoln Square shop early Tuesday after learning the news to come by and enjoy a few drafts while Comerford worked on his laptop.
Comerford first visited the taproom’s patio after his first COVID-19 vaccination and was blown away by the view, he said.
“From then on, I was pretty much telling everyone I knew that we needed to come here as soon as possible,” Comerford said.
That led to Comerford regularly taking long walks from Lincoln Square using the 312 RiverRun trail to head to the bar, he said.
“Whether it be walking our dog, biking or just meeting here with some friends. This is a place that not only has a very beautiful layout and views, but really good beer,” he said. “I feel like once you’re in here, you kind of can’t forget about it.”
Jorge Nova biked to the taproom Tuesday afternoon and was enjoying a Flywheel while watching the amber dusk from the floor-to-ceiling windows. He’d read about the closing in Block Club, and said he discovered the brewery while attending this year’s St. Patrick’s Day party, he said.
“I had a really good time, and it felt like the whole city was here. It was jam packed and everyone was having a good time, a lot of positive energy,” Nova said.
Nova said he’s going to try to stop by again this weekend with friends.
“Let’s come here and take a picture and memorialize this moment before we can’t come here anymore,” he said.
Metropolitan is at least the third brewery in Chicago to close this year. Lo Rez Brewing closed in Pilsen this summer after seven years, and Rock Bottom Brewery left River North last winter after more than 20 years in business. Empirical Brewery closed its Ravenswood facility late last year after being evicted over unpaid rent.
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