Grain Bin Brewing Co. wants old Fire Hall

The company said in the post that they wished to make their intentions known “in the spirit of transparency,” and said input from the council and mayor have not come since the RFP in September.

“We do have ambitious plans for the future, and are choosing to hold some of them close to the chest for two reasons,” the company wrote.

“One, that we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep; we would hate to disappoint you all. Two, sometimes secret surprises are fun.”

The fire hall — built in 1969 — went on sale in the summer of 2017.

The Grain Bin, one two bidders, scored lower than their competitor in RFP grading.

“We were the lower scored one. We wanted to let the public know … We weren’t the recommended buyer for the fire hall,” said brewer Dalen Landis.

Despite this, they hope to make an impression, and he says no decision has been made.

Landis said that they had no plans to open a restaurant. However, food isn’t totally off the table.

“In order to offer open alcohol for consumption (you can buy a pint), a food option would need to be available. However, with the recent change in how liquor manufacturers can operate, we do not need to be the ones to make the food,” they wrote.

They then offered the option of food trucks.

“With the unique layout of the fire hall (some of the bays are closed off from others), we are coming up with ways that would allow food trucks to use our lot and licensed patio in the summer, as well as offering space inside to offer their wares throughout the winter,”they wrote.

But they mostly wanted to build a sense of community in Grande Prairie’s downtown core.

“We definitely feel we would not be in any sense of competition with (other downtown) locations. We could just draw more traffic in their direction,” said Landis.

“We’re very excited. We’ve been blown away by the support here in Grande Prairie.”

The meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in the North Conference Room at city hall.

by Jordan Parker