OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward An architectural rendering of the proposed Marquee Brewery which will be located at 85 Lakeshore Dr.

Marquee Brewing, a non-malt derived hard soda and seltzer craft brewery is looking to open its doors at 85 Lakeshore Dr. by June.

At December’s Planning Board meeting in Dunkirk, Cory Clark, Megalomania LLC owner gave a site presentation on what the city could expect from the new endeavor.

According to Clark, the existing structure is being completely utilized, but will also include a covered patio and beer garden in the front of the building. Within the structure itself, Clark will include a cooler, freezer (as he deals with a lot of juices in his process) and a kitchen, churning out bar type food for patrons to enjoy.

“The way I brew, I don’t brew traditional beer, I brew seltzers, hard sodas and teas,” Clark discussed. “My process allows me to use much smaller tanks as I ferment at a very high alcohol. My process end up at about 17% (alcohol content) and then I take that and divide it, so 17% is going to give me three batches when cut down to 5%. It’s about six barrels, but that one fermentation of those six barrels will make about 18 barrels.”

He’s also planning on having the taps located right on the cooler wall to avoid the need of running cooled lines having to be ran.

Clark also spoke of the menu he’s hoping to include, inspired mostly by his time in Seattle where he was exposed to several ethnic cooking styles.

“It’ll be a little bit varied,” Clark stated. “After moving back, I noticed that there seems to be an abundance of pizza and chicken tenders around, so those things won’t be on the menu. It’s still going to be bar food, but as healthy of food as possible.”

Currently the biggest issue the brewery faces is a parking shortage. Though there’s a roughly six-block parking lane extending the length of Memorial Park, they as well as the city are concerned with it being tied up by patrons. Clark talked of possibly pairing up with an area club or business for employee parking as there’s no room to place a lot on his property.

Rebecca Wurster, planning and development director did mention that the city is currently looking into adding a public lot at that end of Lakeshore some time in the near future to help relieve on-street parking issues around the downtown.

On Dec. 20, Clark attended a city of Dunkirk Zoning Board meeting to gain three variances for his brewery. One was for the beer garden to allow it to be built within six inches of the property line, the second was to open the brewery and tap room at the location as it has no onsite parking, nor ability to make any and third is the addition of a small cement pad on the back of the building for garbage bins.

The zoning board unanimously approved all variances, with the stipulation that Clark take responsibility of patrons and employees parking on private property. They believe that the character of the brewery will improve the downtown district overall.