Trapezium Brewing scraps plans for Church Hill taproom

The former Masonic Lodge building had been planned to become a brewery. (Mike Platania photos)

A Petersburg-based brewery’s plan for a Church Hill offshoot is officially off the table.

Trapezium Brewing Co. has scrapped its efforts to open a satellite taproom at 520 N. 25th St. 

Dave McCormack, who owns Trapezium and real estate firm Waukeshaw Development, said the decision against the Church Hill spot was made in part due to an overall slowdown in the craft beer industry. McCormack had also been planning to bring a taproom for Beale’s Beer, a brewery he owns in Bedford, to Yorktown, but those plans have similarly been scrapped. 

The Church Hill location was to have been known as “93 by Trapezium,” and would have been housed in the 9,000-square-foot former Richmond Association of Masonic Lodges building at the corner of North 25th and East Leigh streets. McCormack bought the property in October 2020 for just under $1 million and received city approval for the concept in spring 2021.

However, McCormack doesn’t intend to let the old Masonic lodge sit idle for long. He said work is underway to convert the building into office space, a type of redevelopment he and Waukeshaw have done in the past. A few years ago McCormack bought the former Boy Scouts of America building on West Broad Street, renovated it into modern office space and rented it to architecture firm 3North. 

McCormack recently acquired 4901 Fitzhugh Ave.

Meanwhile, over in the West End, Waukeshaw has another office project on deck.

Last week McCormack paid $2 million for the 3-story office building at 4901 Fitzhugh Ave. near Willow Lawn. 

The 27,000-square-foot building was once a Symbol Mattress office, and McCormack said he bought the building through a 1031 exchange after he sold some acreage in the Southside to The Lawson Cos. in April. 

The Fitzhugh building is due for a modernization, McCormack said, and he’s enlisted Cornerstone Architects to handle the design work.  

“It’s a building from 1973 that feels like not a whole lot has changed, and that’s not in a good way,” he said. 

He said the company is planning to renovate the structure in hopes of increasing its occupancy from its current rate of about 30 percent. 

Despite a general downturn in the office market, McCormack said he thinks there’s still demand for smaller spaces in good locations like Willow Lawn. 

“It’s a poorly thought-of asset class, but we’re excited about it and hopefully getting good deals,” McCormack said. “There’s a lot of people still needing (office space), and people are getting priced out of places like Scott’s Addition.”

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