The story of Great Divide Brewing Co. in Denver’s trendy River North neighborhood will end happily after all, after its future there was in doubt amid land and building sales.

The brewery’s Barrel Bar at 1812 35th St., off Brighton Boulevard, will stay for “the foreseeable future” after company officials agreed to sell its 65,000-square-foot-building, and the 2.2-acre parcel it sits on, to development company McWhinney.

It bought the land in 2013 to expand its original location at 2201 Arapahoe St. in the Ballpark neighborhood, moving canning operations to RiNo. The Barrel Bar opened in 2015.

In 2019, it agreed to sell 2.5 acres of the original 4.7-acre plot to McWhinney. That deal was announced in January, along with the news Great Divide was looking to sell the rest of the land and the building there.

“We had interest from multiple parties in the property and were fortunate to be able to select the partner who will best meet the goals of Great Divide Brewing,” Brian Dunn, the company’s founder and president, said in a statement. “RiNo has become our second home and we’re excited to maintain a presence in this vibrant location through the foreseeable future with the Barrel Bar and our warehousing operations. McWhinney embraced this plan and I think it’s a real testament to their understanding of local business and local business partnerships.”

The area is zoned for mixed-use of up to 12 stories. It’s highly likely the development will include multifamily residences, either apartments or condominiums.

McWhinney is already developing a large project in RiNo, a luxury apartment building called FoundryLine at 38th and Blake streets.

“We are thrilled to expand McWhinney’s footprint in the neighborhood and to eventually create a true vertical mix of uses that could include residential, office and experiential retail through thoughtful planning and development,” Kirsty Greer, senior vice president of multifamily and urban mixed-use development at McWhinney, said in a statement. “Great Divide, the RiNo Art District and the adjacent RiNo Art Park will be terrific partners and neighbors for what will be one of our most vibrant mixed-use developments yet.”

The 30-year development company’s projects have included hospitality, multifamily, industrial and office projects in Colorado, Texas, Massachusetts, Oregon, California and Nebraska. In Colorado, it helped develop Denver Union Station, The Crawford Hotel, Dairy Block and The Maven.

While the Barrel Bar building used to house a 350-can-per-minute production line, 75-half-barrel per hour kegging line and two 300-barrel bright beer tanks, beer was never brewed there.

Great Divide was one of downtown Denver’s first breweries, opening in 1994, and dubs itself the “oldest and largest packaging brewery and one of the most decorated breweries in America.”

A Great Divide spokesman said service at the bar will continue uninterrupted, most packaging will still move to the Arapahoe facility and the brewery has bought a new canning line.

“We will retain about a third of our warehouse space at Brighton for cold and dry storage,” marketing manager Matt Sandy said in an email. “Once beer is kegged or canned at Arapahoe, it will be moved to Brighton cold storage and ship from there. We’re re-imagining our current barrel cellar at Brighton as a mixed use barrel storage and event space.”