Big New Brewery Planned For Downtown LA’s City Market South Development

A prominent Southern craft beer company is expanding to the West Coast next summer, landing a big new facility in the thick of Downtown Los Angeles. Creature Comforts Brewing, based out of Athens, Georgia, will open in the summer of 2021 as part of the slow expansion of City Market South, which is already home to Rossoblu, Superfine, Dama, Cognoscenti Coffee, and a slew of offices and event spaces.

Forbes and others first picked up the news yesterday, saying that plans are in place to partner with well-known Hollywood writer Marvel director Joe Russo on the project. Russo’s return to the restaurant scene in Downtown LA comes a year after the surprising closure of Simone in the Arts District and the loss of acclaimed chef Jessica Largey in what was one of the wilder restaurant news rides of 2019.

“Los Angeles stood out because of its large craft beer community, the success of numerous independent, small craft breweries and California’s brewery-friendly state laws,” Creature Comforts owners said in a statement. Indeed the entire Southern California craft beer scene has been white-hot for years now, at least before the coronavirus pandemic and slowing economy began seriously eroding industry gains. Downtown, meanwhile, has also seen large losses in the restaurant industry, with prominent projects like Broken Spanish closing in recent weeks.

There is no definitive timetable for the Georgia-based brewery’s arrival, though at least one partner is relocating to Los Angeles to help facilitate the launch. Expect more details on the size and scope of the facility as time goes on.

• LA’s Craft Breweries Are Reeling From Plummeting Sales and Restrictions [ELA]