It looks like the historic Mecklenburg Gardens space in Corryville might finally be getting a new tenant. But it will take until at least October to see if it’s a restaurant, brewery or even a new iteration of the 1865 German restaurant and beer garden that shuttered in 2023 after 158 years in business.
If all goes as planned, the building will soon be owned by the Corryville Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit founded in 1995 to lead the revitalization of the Corryville neighborhood. The corporation’s director, Brandon Williams, told me that the corporation will acquire the property with funds from Corryville’s tax increment financing (TIF) district, which allows them to acquire blighted properties so long as the acquisition serves the greater community at large.
While the Mecklenburg property is currently under contract with the corporation, the use of TIF funds must be approved by Cincinnati City Council before the sale is finalized.
Williams told me residents of Corryville have been concerned about the property ever since a 2024 mass shooting that claimed the lives of three men happened right next door. “After that, our board looked at [the property] and said, ‘we need to step in,'” he said. Once the sale is complete, the corporation will work to renovate the property to make it more attractive to prospective tenants.
Many are hoping it will be transformed back into a beer hall and restaurant similar to Mecklenburg Gardens, one of the very few German beer gardens to survive Prohibition and the anti-German sentiment during and after World War II.
“This is great news for a lot of us who have been mourning the loss of Mecklenburg Gardens after it’s closure in 2023,” read a post on The Gnarly Nome, a Facebook page and website dedicated to all things Cincinnati beer related. “I have a ton of high hopes for the space − and only beg whoever purchases it to understand what the space means historically, and culturally to this city so that they might do it justice! Fingers Crossed, folks… one step closer to the return of Meck!”
But Josh Rothstein, vice president of sales and leasing at OnSite Retail Group, isn’t so sure the property will continue on as Mecklenburg Gardens.
Rothstein has been showing the building to prospective tenants ever since John Harten, who operated Mecklenburg Gardens for 28 years, sold it to an unnamed buyer in 2023. That buyer wanted to restore the property and reopen it in as a German-style brewery and restaurant. At the time, Harten was optimistic they would follow through and that a new-and-improved Mecklenburg would reopen in about six months. Unfortunately, the deal fell through when a local brewery slated to occupy the space had a change of plans and backed out.
Rothstein told me the new owners have put him in charge of marketing the property again once the sale is complete.
Williams said the corporation is open to all offers, but that what the Corryville community really wants is something similar to Mecklenburg, a combination brewery and restaurant. “We want to do good on the community’s dream,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Mecklenburg Gardens building might finally be saved, but its future is unclear
Reporting by Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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