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After spending nearly six years looking for a place to open a Charlotte brewery, Clarence Boston said he was thrilled when he found a location on the grounds of Savoy apartments in Uptown. In addition to a taproom that was nearly move-in ready, the location also came with an outdoor pavilion for hosting live music events when the weather was nice.
Almost immediately, he said, the business took off. On a busy weekend, according to Boston, his Hippin’ Hops Brewstillary would easily draw nearly 1,000 customers.
Now, less than five months after Boston and his business partner Danielle Roseboro opened the brewery on Jan. 15, 2024 — Martin Luther King Day — its future at Savoy is uncertain.
According to documents, emails and audio recordings reviewed by QCity Metro, Savoy’s management company, Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar, has issued several violation notices to Boston and Roseboro, alleging that some Savoy residents have complained of loud, disruptive music coming from the brewery.
As a result, Greystar has reduced the brewery’s hours of operation — prompting it to close by 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekends, effective June 1, according to Boston. (Parts of the business previously had been allowed to stay open as late as midnight on weekends.)
In an interview with QCity Metro, Boston, a former Charlotte resident now living in Atlanta, said he questions whether his Savoy location can survive with shorter hours. He disputes that his brewery generates excessive noise and has suggested that race may play a role in the residents’ complaints. Boston and Roseboro are Black, as are most of the brewery’s customers.
“You know how hard it is to be in this industry and be Black,” he said, an apparent reference to other Black-owned breweries that have closed in Charlotte. “I think it’s important that our voices are heard. There comes a time when enough is enough.”
Also read: Black-owned brewery to close; owner cites financial strain
In one audio recording reviewed by QCity Metro, a Greystar official was heard advising Boston that Greystar had received “stacks of complaints” and “tons of emails” from disgruntled Savoy tenants. Some tenants, the official said, had requested to be moved to other units away from the brewery.
In a statement emailed to QCity Metro, Greystar said the company was “hopeful to come to a resolution” with the brewery’s owners.
“After numerous substantiated resident complaints about noise and parking related issues, we have continued to meet with Clarence and his team to discuss mutually beneficial solutions,” the statement read in part. “Our goal is to respond to all resident/retail tenant complaints in the same manner in an effort to allow everyone the ability to enjoy their residency at Savoy.”
Boston said the Savoy location brews about 200 barrels of beer each month, often in support of special events and local Black-led organizations.
“Hippin’ Hops is a hip-hop brewery,” he said, noting his success in both Georgia and Charlotte.
An uncertain future
According to ProBrewer, a website that serves the craft beer industry, fewer than 1% of the nearly 10,000 craft breweries in the United States are owned by African Americans. Boston, who grew up in Reidsville, N.C., has been a rare success story.
After selling his funeral home on Statesville Road in 2021, he left Charlotte for Atlanta, taking with him his dreams of launching a Black-owned brewery. Boston told QCity Metro at the time that he had grown frustrated with Charlotte’s business climate. He said the city’s big real estate companies were unwilling to host his brewery concept. He suggested race had played a factor.
“I think the culture we bring is unwanted,” he said.
In Atlanta, Boston said, “everybody wanted to lease to us.”
Boston now owns two breweries in Atlanta, plus two in Charlotte, including Another Brewery in the NoDa neighborhood. He also co-owns Roz Bar, formerly Firehouse, near Bank of America Stadium.
As for the Savoy location, Boston said his future there is cloudy. Before the site was home to his Hippin’ Hops Brewstilery, it hosted another local brewer, D9 Brewing Company, which is based in Lake Norman. QCity Metro could not immediately reach D9 officials for comment. Earlier this year, D9 filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to published reports.
Boston said restrictions at Savoy have steadily increased. Early on, he said, Greystar banned the sale of hookah products at his brewery.
According to a clause in the lease reviewed by QCity Metro, Savoy does not allow any “noxious, disturbing or offensive odors, fumes or gases, or any smoke, dust, steam or vapors, or any loud or disturbing noise or vibrations outside of the Permitted Live Music Hours to be originated in or emitted from the Premises.”
Boston also has alleged that Greystar has ordered the brewery to halt a popular event that brought Black food trucks to the location, citing traffic congestion.
In an email to Greystar, QCity Metro outlined each of Boston’s allegations. In its statement, the company said, “We are supportive of any events that are hosted by our retail partners that follow local ordinances and the agreed upon terms of the lease.”
In his interview with QCity Metro, Boston said he has offered to work with the apartment to monitor the level of sound coming from the brewery. When a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer went to the bar in response to a noise complaint, he said, the officer issued no citation and assured the brewery owners that sounds coming from the outdoor pavilion were not excessive. QCity Metro could not independently verify Boston’s account of the officer’s visit.
In an email to Greystar dated March 5, 2024, a lawyer representing the brewery noted what he called “false accusations and unreasonable restrictions on the business.”
Meanwhile, Boston said, he and Roseboro would soon propose a settlement that could see the brewery relocate.
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