A pop-up social enterprise that became a destination brewery and restaurant at the Carter Payne Chapel in Colorado Springs will soon close to the general public, under a rebranding owners say they hope will bring new energy and focus to the historic space.
The restaurant at Carter Payne, 320 S. Weber St., is set to close Sept. 2 in preparation for a “rebirth” as downtown Colorado Springs’ newest event center, according to a Monday announcement from the project’s leadership team.
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The chapel’s anchor brewery, Local Relic Artisan Ales — as well as its libations-of-the-month membership club — will remain under the new concept, said co-owner Jeff Zearfoss, but “the idea that you can just come by on a Thursday and grab a beer and a bite to eat?
“That won’t be possible” after Sept. 1, he said.
Zearfoss said Tuesday that the changes will allow Local Relic's food and beer artisans to focus on what they do, and love, best: unusual craft creations and pairings that push boundaries and provide context for lifelong memories.
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“This building has been a fixture in so many people's lives, from weddings to baby showers to celebrations of life. The pivot to doing events gives us a lot more opportunity and freedom to be able to say 'yes' to those types of events ... and really get back to our roots," he said.
While the new iteration of Carter Payne will focus on catered events for those who rent the space (gatherings “as small as two and as large as we are allowed,” according to the brewery), keep an eye on social media for public celebrations and special beer and food pairing dinners, a la the early, days of Local Relic, said co-owner Melissa Lofton.
“The way I framed it in my mind is, we’re going from being like a streaming service, where people can come by at any time, to being more like traditional cable, where you have to be intentional about being here at the times when we are open (to the public),” she said.
“Sometimes you've just got to shake things up, see how it goes. Right?" she added.
Local Relic was launched more than 10 years ago with a catering and brewer team-up, curating beer and food pairing dinners often in partnership with community groups and nonprofits. Zearfoss and his partners settled on a permanent site in 2016, buying the Weber Street property and its stately stone church, which was built in the late 1890s on land donated by Gen. William Jackson Palmer and, for generations, was the home to the city's first Black congregation.
What began as a brewery tasting room soon became a tasting room and incubator for culinary start-ups, ultimately transitioning post-pandemic into the "restaurant at Carter Payne," with a kitchen led by chef and Local Relic partner Brent Beavers of Immerse Cuisine.
The decision to pare back and drill down the focus at Carter Payne wasn't easy, said Zearfoss, citing the multifold struggles and rising expenses of running a "traditional" restaurant, especially in a city — and neighborhood — where walk-in concept craft eateries and watering holes have boomed in recent years.
Standing out from the crowd, in a niche with room to grow and breathe, is a different kind of challenge than it was a decade ago.
"Local Relic, as a brand and a model, and as a beer, deserves the attention it was given when it was a baby," Zearfoss said. "So we're going to go back and do that, and do it well."
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