The building that once housed Sycamore Brewing's production and office operations near Camp North End has sold for $6.65 million, closing on the same day the brewery's lease on the property ended. The sale marks another turn for the company now known as Club West Brewing, which spent 2026 trying to rebuild after a scandal that gutted its distribution business and forced a brief closure of its South End taproom.
A Building Changes Hands as a Lease Runs Out
According to property records, West Twenty Fourth LLC sold the Club West Brewery offices and production facility to Summit Avenue West 24th for $6.65 million, with the transaction and the lease termination between Club West and West Twenty Fourth LLC both dated November 4. As reported by Axios, West Twenty Fourth LLC is tied to Sycamore co-founder Sarah Taylor, and had purchased the building for $5.2 million back in 2024. Summit Avenue West 24th, the buyer, is tied to Matthew Browder, owner of the Browder Brown real estate firm, who also owns the buildings housing Wooden Robot in South End and Town Brewing in FreeMoreWest, per the same Axios report. Axios said it was awaiting a response from Club West after requesting comment; the story quotes Browder directly.
The facility near Camp North End was once central to Sycamore's growth ambitions. Back in 2017, the Charlotte Business Journal reported that Sycamore planned to invest $2.5 million to build out its North End facility, a project expected to increase beer production sixteen-fold and allow the brewery to produce up to 80,000 barrels annually. That scale never matched what the company would become known for by 2026.
From Sycamore to Club West
Sycamore lost much of its distribution business after co-founder Justin Brigham was arrested and charged with statutory rape of a child in 2025, according to Axios. Bars posted videos of staff throwing out Sycamore-branded taps, and grocers pulled Sycamore products from shelves in the fallout. The brewery closed in January 2026 and reopened in March under the new Club West name, timed to catch a busy St. Patrick's Day weekend, Axios reported.
Around the same time, Sarah Taylor said she had initiated formal divorce proceedings from Brigham and announced she had agreed to sell the brewery to Brad Bergman, according to WCCB Charlotte. Bergman, who had spent eight years on the brewery's operational team and most recently served as director of brewery operations, was set to acquire 100% of Club West Brewing, which was set to employ 84 people, WCCB reported. Whether Bergman has officially taken full ownership of Club West remains unclear, Axios noted.
Under the Club West name, the South End operation was set to reopen with a new brand and beverage program. Axios reported that Club West's taproom has been consistently packed since the scandal broke, even as the rest of the business struggled to recover.
Distribution Cuts and a Shrinking Footprint
Bergman had hoped to resume the distribution business, according to Axios, but by summer the company was acknowledging that side of the operation was not rebounding the way the taproom had. The Charlotte Ledger reported in July that Club West had laid off an unconfirmed number of employees in sales and production, though the company did not provide specifics on the positions or numbers affected. At that time, per the Ledger, Club West distributed four drinks.
In a statement to the Charlotte Ledger, Bergman said the decision to lay off production staff was made to preserve Club West's taproom operations as its core business. “With the distribution business not really being exactly where we wanted it, we had to make some changes to keep the business successful,” he told the outlet. The Ledger's reporting at the time noted an ownership announcement was expected by the end of that month.
A Tough Year for Craft Beer Broadly
Club West's retreat from distribution echoes a wider industry pullback. The Brewers Association reported that total U.S. craft beer production fell 4% in 2025, while the number of operating craft breweries nationwide dropped 2.9% from the prior year to 9,578. Craft beer's retail dollar value declined 2.8% to $28.0 billion over the same period, the trade group found.
Not every corner of the industry struggled equally, however. The Brewers Association noted that craft's share of the overall beer market by volume actually edged up slightly, from 13.2% to 13.4%, and that hospitality-driven models — brewpubs and taprooms, specifically — remained comparatively resilient even as production-heavy distribution businesses like the one Club West once ran near Camp North End faced steeper headwinds.
