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Can beer save the neighborhood?

Overgrown building
Lindsay Lazarski/WHYY

 

It's a humid summer day outside the Neuweiler Brewery in Allentown. Trees are growing inside the building. They're so tall that they jut out from broken windows.

The owners of Ruckus Brewing Company roll up in their car and get out. They're wearing suits and ties — a little formal, considering the setting. They walk over and open the gate to the brewery. It hasn't operated since 1968.

Ruckus is a New York-based beer company that sells three beers: a double IPA called Hoptimus Prime, a red ale called Hedonism, and a Belgian-style tripel called Euphoria. It bought the Neuweiler building in 2014 for $1.7 million. Ruckus CEO Josh Wood calls it a beautiful eyesore.

Read the rest of this report at the website of Keystone Crossroads, a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.

Marielle Segarra was WHYY's Keystone Crossroads reporter. She reported for the multi-station partnership on urban policy, crumbling infrastructure and how distressed Pennsylvania cities are bouncing back. As a freelance radio reporter, her stories have also aired on Latino USA, WNYC, WBUR and other NPR member stations.
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