Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Port 44 for sale

Port 44 Brew Pub in Newark is being offered for sale.

Owner John Feeley said in a brief phone interview Tuesday that he listed his Commerce Street brewpub a month ago. According to a listing at loopnet.com, the asking price is $2.1 million.

Feeley, who is also a lawyer, says he was unable to devote the time it takes to operate the business and now wants to find a buyer who can run it and offer quality beer.

The brewpub opened in April 2010, featuring guest tap beers. It was one of two new craft breweries to open in the state last year. (New Jersey Beer Company in nearby North Bergen is the other one.)

Following a grand opening that August attended by Newark's mayor, Corey Booker, Port 44 began pouring a lineup of house beers made by brewer Chris Sheehan.

6 comments:

Matt said...

That sucks. Hopefully someone will keep it going!

Janine Mellini said...

I was here about two months ago and it seemed like something wasn't right, so this news does not come as a shock to me. Service was terrible, they couldn't make most of what was on the menu because they didn't have a lot of stuff they needed (couldn't even get a simple sandwich), and the beer sample came out and the waiter had no idea what beer was what! It seemed odd, almost like they were in fact shutting down at the end of the week!

Anonymous said...

Not at that price

Anonymous said...

They do have fantastic beer

RGDave said...

Sad, sad news - GREAT beer for sure, but you could see it coming. I just hope they get a buyer and can get Chris, the brewer, back.

Sad day.

Anonymous said...

They put in a lot of effort and it is sad to hear that all they invested is for not. I believe that what they are asking is to walk away without making a dime. It's a great price for the building and all the contents. For someone that has the experience of running a restaurant, not just a brewery they could make a good "GO" of it. Owning a place like this is more than a full time job for at least 2 people but has GREAT promise. Good luck you guys and I will pray it will all work out. It was a dream if you didn't have to make a living from the start.