Frank Mercadante, owner of Sturdy Shelter Brewing, has filed a Certificate of Appropriateness with the City of Batavia for 10. S. Shumway Avenue, the proposed site for the brewery. Together with the property owner, Mike Kluber, Mercadante has proposed alterations to the building, the most notable of which will be adding a second floor deck to the exterior of the building’s east side.
The building that will soon house the brewery is a two-story brick building on a parcel of land approximately 8,055 square feet in size. The proposed deck would overlook Fox River.
Sturdy Shelter doesn’t have an online presence yet, and we were unable to reach Mercadante for comment at the time of publication, so the brewery’s opening timeline remains unclear.
Mercadante reportedly told aldermen at a September 28th Committee of the Whole meeting that the brewhouse itself will be around 1,200 square feet. The indoor seating plan will accommodate 200 patrons.
The building itself is rumored to have historical value. According to Shaw Media, it’s likely Mark Twain wrote a love letter to his wife from the site. Mercadante might even name a beer after Twain to honor the history.
