By Eric Curl
Dec. 9, 2022 – The owner of a Savannah microbrewery is planning to open a restaurant at a recently renovated building at 1401 Paulsen, which once served as a dry cleaners and laundry business.
Two Tides Brewing owner Liz Massey said that she is in the process of opening an “American-style diner”, similar to Waffle House, at the location. Two Tides beer will also be brewed at the site, but at a greatly reduced scale, Massey said.
“This project is going to look vastly different from Two Tides ,” she said via email on Dec. 8. “Right now we’re thinking we’ll have 1 year-round core beer, and release 1-2 other seasonals each year at the diner.”
For comparison, she said Two Tides releases more than 100 new beers a year.
Built in 1955, the former dry cleaners and laundry business on the southwest corner of Paulsen and Anderson sat boarded up and vacant for many years. Vintage Home Restoration’s owner Michael Condon acquired the building in Sept. 2018 and subsequently renovated the structure.
The diner concept is in its early planning stages. Massey said she will have to get approval from the Metropolitan Planning Commission and Savannah City Council since the current zoning doesn’t allow for microbreweries. Those meetings are expected to occur in January and February, she said.
The building also needs some additional work, including the installation of windows, electric, restrooms, air-conditioning and a staircase to the second floor.
“It really is just a totally empty slate which is great because I’m going to get to lay out the diner exactly as I want, but also a bit intimidating as well,” Massey said. “I’ve never worked on a project at this scale before.”
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The concept comes more than four years after Massey and her husband, James Massey, opened Two Tides Brewing in March of 2018. The brewery and bar is located at 12 W. 41st St. in the Streetcar Historic District – also branded as the Starland District – south of downtown.
To answer questions and meet area residents, Massey will be at the building for an hour at 12 p.m. today and 3 p.m. Saturday.
“I’m truly looking forward to being a part of the Midtown neighborhood and getting to know the residents in a similar way Two Tides has been a part of the Starland District,” she said.
