In Media Borough, there is a former Iron Hill Brewery sitting empty.
Business owners are contemplating who might replace them, now that the company has filed for liquidation bankruptcy, writes Erin McCarthy for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The empty building in Media is a silent reminder that Iron Hill was once a catalyst for kicking off its downtown restaurant boom..
Rick Whittington, who has worked at restaurants across from Iron Hill for 20 years, remembers Iron Hill customers spilling into neighboring bars while waiting for tables on weekends.
In recent years, those crowds have gotten smaller, said Whittington, general manager of State Street Pub.
Whatever business takes over the space would have to bring in more customers to be profitable, he said.
“A local business would probably be best-received, but being such a large space, it would have to be an established local business,” Whittington said. “It’s just daunting. To be able to afford the space, you’d have to put a lot of butts in seats.”
According to the Media Business Authority, “a number of exciting potential replacements” have been in contact.
MBA Executive Director Dave Fairman said Media has “very few commercial vacancies.”
Read more about the impact in Media Borough on the loss of the Iron Hill Brewery in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
