Brewery District Plan

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Brewery District – Planning for the neighborhood surrounding the brewery

Brewery1148 TUM SQUARE cropped North focus area of Brewery District. Photo by Aerial Images NW.

Summary of plan

The Brewery District includes the former Olympia Brewery and the triangle of roads formed by Custer Way, Cleveland Avenue, and Capitol Boulevard, some of the oldest portions of Tumwater. The district extends north to the Sunset Life property and south to "E" Street.

The area was the original location of the first American settlement on Puget Sound, and included a variety of commercial businesses and operations that took advantage of the river’s power for manufacturing. Construction of Interstate-5, however, displaced this historic settlement, particularly the commercial portion. The historic downtown was destroyed and commercial businesses moved east within the neighborhood, and south outside of the neighborhood. Closure of the Olympia Brewery in 2003 further impacted the area, leaving a large brownfield in the center of the Brewery District.

As the result of a series of studies and projects, the Brewery District Plan was created with four goals in mind:

Create a stronger sense of place by facilitating pedestrian access, establishing gathering places for residents, and fostering a distinct district identity.
Improve transportation options, safety, and access within and across the district.
Expand economic opportunity and activity.
Improve the function and appearance of the built environment.

The plan provides transportation enhancements, public realm improvements, a vision for building character and development intensity, and a set of implementation and phasing strategies to assist in transitioning the Brewery District into a multi-modal activity center with a mixture of housing and neighborhood-serving businesses.

Brewery District