Birdtown Brewing to Open 260-Seat Brewery in Converted Lakewood Church

Inside the former St. Gregory the Theologian church at 2035 Quail St., carpenters have installed a 32-foot live-edge bartop and crews are fitting new stained-glass windows and panoramic murals as Birdtown Brewing prepares to open to about 260 guests across an upstairs level, a downstairs barroom and an outdoor patio in late-March to early-April 2026.

The lower-level barroom will give patrons sightlines into a cellar filled with brite tanks and serving tanks, while a brewhouse will sit front-and-center atop the former sanctuary area where earlier plans placed the system on the altar. Brewing equipment was imported and staged in 2017; a 2017 preview reported a 7.5-barrel system on the altar, though current reporting does not confirm the final system size.

Owners are pairing the taproom with a formal food partnership with Geraci’s pizza, marking Geraci’s first availability on Cleveland’s west side in 70 years and offering whole pies for dine-in and pick-up alongside pub fare such as chicken wings and burgers. Geraci’s president Bucky Spoth framed the move as community-focused: “The partnership brings together family legacy and craft brewing, built on shared values of food, community and service.”

Head brewer Zach DelPriore is listed in current staff reports and says the beer program will aim for “something for everybody,” a lineup that managers describe as classic ales, lagers and hard seltzers. Earlier promotional pieces from 2017 and 2018 named Wyatt Routson as head brewer and noted the altar-mounted 7.5-barrel system; the project’s staffing and equipment history shows evolution between those early previews and 2026 openings.

The conversion leans into a publike atmosphere while preserving the building’s Byzantine-Revival architecture: pointed arches, dark woods and stained glass complement live-edge furniture and tables crafted from the former Lakewood High School gymnasium floor. Work on finishes and the new patio was concentrated in roughly the last 12 months as the long-delayed project moved toward opening.

Birdtown’s path to this point traces back to a Lakewood Planning Commission approval in 2014 and a June 4 commission meeting that local coverage recorded as unanimous, followed by years of stop-and-start construction. That stretch prompted neighborhood pushback early on, including a petition with about 250 signers and comments such as “Just what we need, another bar” and “Something just doesn’t feel right about a brewery being in a church.” Councilwoman Mary Louise Madigan previously remarked that “Birdtown is not perfect…but it is not infested with crime.”

Owner Ryan Grammerstorf said the focus will be local: “We’re going to focus on our four walls and keep people here and well-fed.” The brewery’s site currently invites visitors to sign up for updates under the banner “craft brews & pizza coming soon,” with a final opening date expected in the late-March to early-April 2026 window.