It's been a good six months since we last checked in on progress at 701 Haight St. Today, an update.
Black Sands, as you surely know by now, is the microbrewery and home brew shop that's slated for the southwest corner of Haight and Pierce. We first learned of it way back in December of 2013, when plans surfaced to transform the former laundromat into a full-fledged brewery and cafe.
In the months since, the building has undergone a retrofit, the foundation has been replaced, and other structural work has been performed, delaying the project a bit but ensuring a stable home for the brewery.
While work on the building has advanced, the Black Sands team has kept busy. They opened a weekend home brew shop on the Pierce Street side of the space, ran a successful "free beer for life" fundraising promotion, and brightened the streetscape with murals and bike racks.
Yesterday we checked in with co-owner Robert Patterson, who told us about some recent developments at the site.
Major retrofit work on the space is 95 percent complete, Patterson tells us. Interestingly, while crews were digging out the brewery's basement, they hit the underground creek that flows along the path we now call the Wiggle. Two wells have now been installed, and Patterson says they hope to incorporate some of this potable subterranean water into their brewing process.
The look and feel of the place are starting to come together, too. Orders have been placed for white marble and stainless steel for the counters, and about half of the space's new windows have been installed:
More windows coming in pic.twitter.com/U8eX6mjRZ8
— Black Sands Brewery (@BlackSandsBeer) February 10, 2015
Siding should be arriving soon, at which point they'll be able to take down the exterior scaffolding.
So all in all, things are moving forward. Perhaps given the history of unexpected delays, they're not offering any new estimates for when the brewery might be open, but "early 2015" remains the official stance. You'll likely get a chance to check out the space, however, during the next Lower Haight Art Walk in March. We'll have more details on that soon.
