Exciting news for Woodinville’s Metier Brewing Company, Washington State’s only Black-owned brewery! They will play a big role in the upcoming Seattle Mariners expansion building at the former Pyramid Brewing Alehouse! King 5 News just announced that the Mariners have purchased the 30,000 square foot property, historically known as the American Warehouse Company building, as part of a SoDo revitalization project.
Many Seattle locals were saddened in May of 2020 when Pyramid Brewery announced it was shuttering its popular 1st Ave alehouse. Pyramid Alehouse was a fixture for baseball fans for over 30 years, but the pandemic changed everything. Minus the crowds from sporting and entertainment events, the alehouse was simply not able to withstand the slower months of the restaurant business. We are thrilled to learn about these exciting new developments that promise to bring new life into the SoDo neighborhood!
MBC will operate in the new building and bring their really good beer to the masses at T-Mobile Park games and events. A prominent feature of the building will be the new patio. It is to be named “Steelhead Alley” and is a nod to the Seattle Steelheads, Seattle’s all-black minor league baseball team formed in 1946 by the West Coast Negro League. The Mariners franchise plans to fill the space with rich history and old photos of the baseball team.
The Seattle Mariners plan to invest long-term in this multi-million dollar project. They signed a 23-year lease and plan to operate the new facility year-round. This is wonderful news for Metier Brewing and for Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood, as businesses begin to re-emerge following pandemic shut-downs. This building will bring back important tourist revenue, add new jobs to the Seattle community, and will enrich the area by honoring its diverse cultural history.
Metier plans to continue its own commitment to diversity by maintaining and adding vendor contracts with Black and Brown-owned businesses. We are so excited to follow this project and will be waiting for the planned opening in July or August of 2022. For now, we say cheers to October baseball, and how about those M’s!
~ Jen
Metier Brewing Company’s website
Seattle Mariner’s website
