Atwater in the Park, the Grosse Pointe Park brewpub that has poured beer inside a converted 1936 church for 12 years, is set to close. The taproom at the corner of Kercheval Avenue and Lakepointe Street has become one of the area's most recognizable gathering spots since it opened in 2014, and its shuttering marks the end of an era for a space built on a genuinely unusual foundation: a former house of worship turned brewpub.
Atwater in the Park announced the closure on Instagram and Facebook on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Crain's Detroit Business later detailed how the venue has operated inside the renovated Grace Community Church building since 2014. The brewpub's address on Lakepointe Street has long doubled as something of a local landmark, given its backstory as a 1936 church-turned-taproom.
A Church Building With Character to Spare
Long before Crain's broke news of the closure, local writers had chronicled the building's unusual bones. The original Grace United Church structure, erected in 1936, preserved its stained-glass windows and high wooden vaulted beams, while its former pulpit was repurposed as a host stand, according to the Detroit Metro Times. That architectural quirk gave Atwater in the Park a distinct identity among Grosse Pointe Park's dining and drinking scene from the moment it opened in 2014.
The venue also picked up some colorful local lore along the way. In April 2018, staff released a sage-infused collaboration beer called “Hello From The Other Side” after paranormal investigators conducted midnight sweeps of the building, the same Metro Times report notes, following staff accounts of unexplained noises and eerie experiences in the former church basement.
Part of a Broader Ownership Shake-Up
The taproom's closure comes just months after a major ownership change for its parent brewery. Former Atwater Brewery owner Mark Rieth signed a definitive agreement in June to reacquire the brewery from Tilray Brands, according to BevNET, a deal that returned the Detroit craft brand, its Rivertown brewing location, and the Grosse Pointe Park taproom to local ownership. Rieth had originally sold Atwater in 2020 before Tilray acquired it in 2023, per the same report.
Atwater Brewery itself dates back to 1997, founded in Detroit's historic Rivertown district with a mission of reviving traditional Bohemian and German-style lagers, BevNET's coverage notes. Rieth first invested in the business in 2002 before acquiring full ownership in 2005. Multinational brewer Molson Coors later acquired the brewery in January 2020 through its U.S. craft division, Tenth and Blake Beer Company, when Atwater was producing roughly 23,000 barrels annually, according to Forbes, which also noted Atwater ranked among Michigan's largest regional craft producers at the time.
A Pattern of Taproom Contraction
Grosse Pointe Park's taproom isn't the only Atwater location to go dark this year. Tilray Brands retained ownership of Atwater's Grand Rapids taproom on Michigan Street even after divesting the main brewery back to Rieth in June, and reports indicated plans to close that Grand Rapids venue in July, according to Brewbound's reporting. Industry coverage from inside.beer in October indicated Tilray Brands was restructuring its U.S. craft beer portfolio to focus on five or six core facilities following the Atwater divestment.
The Grosse Pointe Park taproom had also served as one of eight participating establishments in the city's “Park after Dark” social district along Kercheval and Charlevoix avenues, which launched in August 2020, according to reporting from Megan Prieur. Grosse Pointe Park was the first of the five Pointe communities to establish a social district allowing outdoor alcohol commons areas, per that same account.
Rieth's Wider Detroit Heritage Push
Beyond Atwater, Rieth has been building out a broader portfolio of Detroit-area heritage brands. He launched FÜL Beverages and acquired the 1937-established Velvet Peanut Butter brand in 2025, part of what BevNET described as an effort to preserve Detroit heritage brands, and remains an owner of Lansing Brewing Company. Atwater's flagship offerings include Dirty Blonde Ale and Vanilla Java Porter, and its products are distributed throughout Michigan and in multiple states nationwide.
Hoodline previously covered Rieth's deal to reclaim Atwater back in June, when the local ownership shift was framed as a homecoming for the brand. The coming closure of the Grosse Pointe Park taproom now raises new questions about what becomes of the historic 1936 church building on Lakepointe Street and how its loss will reshape the Kercheval social district that helped define the neighborhood's nightlife for the past several years.
