Big Spring Spirits’ South Shore location to open by end of 2023

BELLEFONTE — Big Spring Spirits is getting bigger — much bigger.

Big Spring Spirits is expanding, adding a distillery on Pittsburgh’s South Shore. The Distillery at South Shore will be located in a historic building — the Joseph S. Finch & Co. Building, a whiskey distillery built in 1856.

The project is progressing, according to Big Spring Spirits owner and operator Kevin Lloyd.

“We’re a little bit behind our initial schedule, but I still think we’re on track to be operational by the end of this year. By Thanksgiving is the plan,” Lloyd said.

BSS will be nine years old in July. Lloyd always had an eye on expanding, he said. BSS now has tasting rooms in Seven Fields (near Mars) and Sewickley. However, this new venture is its own animal.

The Distillery at South Shore is actually a project six years in the making. In 2017, a group of investors purchased the building with designs on making it a distillery once again. Enter Lloyd and Big Spring Spirits.

There will be a pair of buildings at the location, he said.

“We have this existing wooden structure building that’s been there for 150 years. And then we have this new concrete and steel building,” Lloyd said. “The materials all seem to be available. We ordered our steel before the pandemic really hit, fortunately. Everything seems to be pretty well on track.”

The space is massive.

“The existing floor plate is about 5,000 square feet. Then, there’s the new section, which is a 5,000-square-feet floor plate too,” Lloyd said.

There will be several floors at the South Shore location, Lloyd said. The first floor will house a local artisan marketplace with fresh coffee, produce, pastries and an in-house butcher. The first floor will also house the popular Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream.

“It will kind of be like a convenience store,” Lloyd said.

Also on that floor will be the distillery for manufacturing.

The second-floor tasting room will sell Big Spring’s bottled spirits, which cover a wide range — from vodka to a specialty coffee cordial. Offices will be located on the existing side.

The third floor will house a “food hall.” Nine vendors have signed on — Smokin Ghosts BBQ, Balance, Casa Brasil, 2 Sisters 2 Sons Caribbean fare and Botanical Vegan Café & Market, as well as two open slots for pop-up kitchens and guest chefs.

“We will have nine restaurants that may or may not rotate every year,” Lloyd said.

On the fourth floor, Lloyd said, there will be commercial kitchens to support 10,000 square feet of event space, which will be on the fifth floor. Also on the fourth floor will be a public and private cigar club.

The icing on the cake will be a rooftop bar. It will be called The Finch as a homage to the former whiskey distillery. Located on the building’s sixth floor, it will be open year-round.

“Those are the uses that we have planned right now,” Lloyd said.

Big Spring Spirits, which opened in 2014, is located at the Match Factory in downtown Bellefonte. The Match Factory was built in 1899, so there are similarities between the Match Factory and the Joseph S. Finch & Co. building.

The Distillery at South Shore held a successful crowdfunding campaign with Pittsburgh-based Honeycomb Credit that raised more than $129,000 to bring in local vendors to the redevelopment.

The Joseph S. Finch & Co. building is located on McKean Street between the Liberty Bridge and a rail bridge used by light-rail cars. The project is massive — $22 million, which includes $17 million for construction and restoration of the building and $5 million to renovate the interior.

Lloyd said he is thrilled with the location on the city’s South Shore.

“Absolutely. I think that’s a big up and coming area,” Lloyd said.

“There’s a big residential development there called The Glasshouse. They completed phase one and another phase is coming.”

In addition to residential spots, there is a Sly Fox Brewery nearby and more than a million square feet of office space, which is filling up quickly.

Pittsburgh’s “T,” the light-rail transit system, has a stop nearby, so Lloyd is hopeful that those attending sporting events, concerts and the like will stop by.

“Our hope is that people will pre- and postgame with us as they go into the city for sporting events,” Lloyd said.

It’s also a stone’s throw from Station Square, so fans can easily use the Gateway Clipper to get from the South Shore to the North Shore to access PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium.

“There’s a lot going on,” Lloyd said. “We are really happy with the location.”