Support the Rebuild of Ales Unlimited

Ales Unlimited needs your help. As many of you know, Betty and Steve opened Ales Unlimited back in 2009 to bring craft beers from around the world to our friends, neighbors, and loyal patrons. Over the years, we have had our share of highs and lows. We were fortunate to stay afloat during the height of the pandemic as an essential business by pivoting our inventory to staples and necessities. However, since fall 2022, our business has been closed for a different reason altogether: the mandatory city seismic upgrade for soft-story buildings.

We first learned of the mandatory upgrade in 2019 from our landlord at the time. The building was sold in early 2021 to a new landlord, but the timeline to complete the upgrade continued to be postponed during the pandemic. Then, in September 2022, we finally received an official notice from the City requiring that our business vacate the premises to complete the seismic upgrades. The planned work was to begin the very following month, giving us just one month to prepare. During that month, we sold as much of our inventory as possible.

Ales Unlimited has had no control over the work scope or schedule, but our business has nonetheless been keenly impacted. Not only have we been forced to remain closed for months longer than originally anticipated, but it has come to light that we will have to bear significant and unanticipated construction costs.

From the very beginning, the upgrade work has been subject to constant delay. The start of work was delayed 3 weeks, finally starting in November 2022; but even after work had commenced, the pace was slow and inefficient. Weeks turned into months, and all the while, the project contractor had no sensitivity or attention to the impact their delays were having on our business.

Over the course of their work, the crew demolished our tile floor and walls and damaged electrical conduits, window framing, and display shelves. There were also changes made to the original plans that necessitated taking down additional walls. Now, after 6 months, it appears the seismic upgrade work is finally nearing completion. But the space that the contractor is leaving us is not usable as a store. The contractor stated that the additional work to make the store usable again was outside their scope of work. Ales Unlimited will need to bear the cost of that additional construction.

The City never suggested to us that the mandatory upgrade could require a business to incur significant construction costs after the upgrade was complete. Entreaties to our district supervisor, the Office of Small Business, and various other resources, have turned up nothing. The City apparently has no grants or other forms of support to help small businesses like ours reopen after completing seismic upgrades.

With the seismic upgrade nearing completion, we are looking into engaging a general contractor who can complete the construction work that will allow Ales Unlimited to reopen. We obtained 3 independent quotes to complete the ceiling, floor, and electrical repairs, as well as to refinish the walls, repaint, and install new display shelves. The least expensive quote was $65,000.

This is a significant cost for a small business like Ales Unlimited to bear, and particularly at this point in time, after months of no income as a result of the business being closed. We are so grateful for the support of all our patrons over the years visiting the shop, and we are now humbly requesting your support again. It would mean the world to us, as it will allow us to reopen our doors and bring you craft beers as we have these many years. Thank you for the support.

Removal of walk-in cooler

Demolition of the floor below walk-in cooler

Demolition of the wall where walk-in used to be

Demolition of the wall at the center of the store

Demolition of the wall and floor at the front of the store

Removing the ceiling

Removing more of the ceiling

New foundation for steal beam

New steel beam (apparently the excisting one wasn't enough). Sadly now we can't install a replacement walk-in since the contractor never bothered to remove the old steel beams and just placed new ones beside it. Made us lose valuable floor space

6 months later we have been told they were done with the work and just waiting for the final inspection from the City. Left us without cleaning or bringing our store back in the condition they found it in.

Before