Tag Archives: Neighborhoods

Craft Breweries, Neighborhoods

Selling Your Home? Don’t Forget To Mention That Brewery

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In 2023, according the National Association of Realtors, the number of existing homes that were sold was just over four million, with an average sales price of $389,300. One of the steps in preparing your home for sale is to write a real estate description in which you outline the key features of your home and the neighborhood in which it is located. Writing for the website Orchard.com, Allaire Conte notes, “A good, effective real estate listing description can attract the right buyers and generate interest in the property. It only makes sense that a poor description can do the opposite, scaring away potential buyers and leaving the property sitting on the market with no offers”. According to Dorothy O’Donnell and Kelsey Morrison, who write for the website Homelight.com, “The listing description is your chance to emphasize the best aspects of both your home and the surrounding area, whether you have access to quality schools or are walking distance from the historic district with boutiques and microbreweries. Access to breweries? Do people really mention those as a neighborhood amenity when listing their home for sale? Apparently they do, indicating that mentioning them can make a home more attractive to potential buyers.

That people would mention proximity to breweries in their home listings does not surprise me. I have been studying the craft brewing industry for over ten years now; particularly the impact of breweries on neighborhoods and communities. As a result of this research, and the research of others, I have arrived at the conclusion that craft breweries are neighborhood assets and that living close to one is a good thing. This is primarily because craft breweries serve as neighborhood Third Places, where friends and family can gather for a pint of locally brewed IPA while enjoying each other’s company. Many craft breweries are also child and dog friendly, making them places where young families are welcome.

Many breweries, such as Birdson Brewing in Charlotte, NC are child and dog friendly

Some of the research I have conducted has focused on the city of Charlotte, NC. Charlotte has a vibrant craft brewing, with over eighty breweries dotted across the metropolitan area. Two neighborhoods which have attracted a disproportionate number of craft breweries are the post-industrial districts of South End (south-west of downtown) and NoDa (north-east of downtown). My research on Charlotte has been carried out in collaboration with my colleague Isabelle Nilsson, a faculty member at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. In a paper I published with Isabelle in 2019, we were able to isolate the impact of being in close proximity to a craft brewery on residential real estate valued. In that research, we determined that single-family homes and condominiums within a half mile of a craft brewery enjoyed an increase in value of 9.2% and 3.2% respectively, as a result of this proximity. This suggests that many homeowners appreciate being within walking distance of a craft brewery.

In my most recent research with Isabelle, we compared 1,088 home listings that mentioned breweries with the same number of randomly selected home listings that did not mention breweries. As with our previous research, all the homes were in Charlotte, NC. An example of a home listing included in our study is shown below.

“When location is key, you can’t get much better than this! 5 minutes from both NoDa & Plaza Midwood shopping, restaurants, and breweries. This 1920’s bungalow is full of charm & nestled in the Villa Heights community. Original hardwoods throughout portions of the home. Claw foot tub in the renovated bathroom. Fenced in back yard with mature trees. Smart features throughout the home include Ecobee thermostat & Alexa controlled lights/switches. Several projects in the home are unfinished & some updates are still needed, but with some TLC, you could have the cutest house on the block. Given the recent sales in the neighborhood, this would also be perfect for an investor looking to completely renovate for a flip. Home is being sold as is with no repairs to be made. HVAC is a 2021 unit & under warranty.”

According to a 2019 report by the National Association of Realtors, 93% of recent homebuyers found online websites as the most useful source of information about prospective homes. Of buyers who used the internet while searching for a home, 85% found detailed information about properties for sale very useful. This suggests that having a well-written, accurate, and appealing home listing is important in attracting potential buyers. The website Homes.com includes walkability and proximity to amenities (parks, gyms, restaurants etc.) as two of a number of neighborhood factors to consider when purchasing a home.

Proximity to Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, home of Heist Brewery, is mentioned as a neighborhood amenity in some home listings

In our most recent research, Isabelle and I were particularly interested in identifying the types of neighborhood in which craft breweries were being listed as a neighborhood amenity by home sellers. Our findings showed that homes mentioning breweries were generally higher priced and sold more quickly than the average home in the Charlotte metropolitan area. We also discovered that, in home listings, breweries were commonly mentioned in conjunction with other neighborhood amenities such as restaurants, coffee shops, and parks. This suggests that craft breweries tend to be located in amenity-rich neighborhoods and are being mentioned as part of a broader package of amenities. The term ‘walkable’ is also frequently mentioned in listings mentioning breweries. This suggests that breweries tend to be in walkable neighborhoods which, in all likelihood, have a high Walk Score. Indeed, the NoDa neighborhood has a Walk Score of 70, making it a “very walkable” neighborhood, where “most errands can be accomplished on foot”. Another word often mentioned is ‘local’. This may suggest geographic proximity and/or locally-owned establishments, such as breweries, book stores, coffee shops etc. A critical feature of Third Places is their accessibility. As noted by Ray Oldenburg, “Third places work . . . when they are local; and they work best when within walking distance of the people they serve”.

In addition to describing the neighborhood, home listings describe the house itself. In our study, words mentioned in the same listings where breweries were mentioned include ‘historic’, ‘bungalow’, ‘renovated’, and ‘original’, with the latter referring to a home’s features. Both South End and NoDa are historic neighborhoods in Charlotte, so these descriptors make sense. In the early 20th, NoDa was home to a number of textile mills and bungalow-style homes that housed the mills’ workers. The aforementioned Heist Brewery is housed in a former textile mill.

An old mill worker’s home in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood. This home is visible from Heist Brewery

The language used to describe the randomly selected sample of home listings that do not mention breweries are quite different. Words such as ‘acres’ (indicating large lots), ‘schools’, and ‘culdesac’, ‘bonus room’, ‘formal dining’, and ‘family room’ describe homes that are indicative of a more suburban setting. In these listings, more emphasis appears to be placed upon the feature of the home rather than the characteristics of the neighborhood.

The research conducted by Isabelle, and I added support to the idea that craft breweries are viewed by both home sellers and real estate agents as neighborhood amenities. Otherwise, why mention them? So, next time you go to sell your home, make sure you mention that brewery just down the street from you.

Further Reading:

Nilsson, Isabelle and Neil Reid. 2019. The value of a craft brewery: On the relationship between craft breweries and property values. Growth and Change, Volume 50, Issue 2, pp. 689-704.

Nilsson, Isabelle and Neil Reid. 2024. Craft breweries as a neighborhood amenity: Evidence from residential real estate listings. Urban Geography, Volume

Craft Breweries, Neighborhoods, Walkability

Craft Breweries and the 15-Minute City

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Last month, I attended a conference in Monterey, CA where I had the opportunity to hear Carlos Moreno speak. Born in Yunja, Colombia, Moreno is an urbanist and professor at Sorbonne Université in Paris. Among academics and city planners, he is best known for his work on the 15-Minute City, a term he coined at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference.

As an idea, the 15-Minute City is a pretty simple. It is an urban planning concept which advocates that most (if not all) of the amenities that you need for daily living (education, healthcare, work, leisure, entertainment etc.) should be accessible within 15 minutes using active modes of transport, i.e., walking or cycling. This is not necessarily a new concept.. As early as the late19th and early 20th centuries the idea of socially cohesive neighborhoods with a sense of community and amenities such as parks, schools, libraries, and public baths were being discussed.

The 15-Minute City emerged as a response to our excessive use of the automobile. The dominance of the automobile travel in the United States is reflected in data reported by The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). This survey showed that, in 2022, the average shopping trip was 5.6 miles, the average trip for childcare was 6.5 miles and the average trip to participate in a religious activity was 8.9 miles. In contrast, data presented by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that “residents of the median US neighborhood only take 12.1% of their trips to basic amenities within a 15-minute walking radius.”

Key planning concepts underlying the 15-Minute city include neighborhoods, accessibility, walkability, and land use mix. In a paper published in 2023 in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society, Efthymis Papadopoulos and his colleagues suggest that the 15-Minute City bringsthe idea of living locally at the forefront of city planning”. The benefits of living locally include a lower carbon footprint, healthier residents, and stronger community bonds.

Strong community bonds exist in the 15-Minute City because neighbors have more face-to-face interaction with each other. These interactions occur as people go about their daily living. And the interactions that people in a neighborhood have with each other do not need to be intense or long lasting in nature. Indeed in a 2014 paper published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, Gillian Sandstom and Elizabeth Dunn showed that a brief exchange with a coffee shop barista (having a short conversation) enhances an individual’s happiness and sense of belonging. People living in amenity rich neighborhoods have a larger number of face-to-face interactions with other residents, exhibit higher levels of interpersonal trust, are less likely to experience social isolation and loneliness, are more willing to help their neighbors, and generally feel better about their community than people living in lower amenity neighborhoods. As noted by the aforementioned Papadopoulos and his colleagues, the15-Minute City begins to “address the problem of alienation and disengagement between the citizens”.

In the 15-Minute City the necessities of everyday life can be accessed within 15 minutes by using active modes of transport (Source: City of Fort Collins, CO)

As I listened to Carlos Moreno speak I thought about craft breweries and the role they might play in the 15-Minute City. As myself and others have argued before, craft breweries function as neighborhood gathering spots (aka Third Places) in cities, large and small, across the United States.

Coined by the urban Sociologist Ray Oldenburg, the term Third Place refers to places outside of home or work, where people congregate and interact. Writing for Brookings Institution, Stuart Butler and Carmen Diaz (2016) note that Third Places are “locations where we exchange ideas, have a good time, and build relationships”. Others have referred to them as the “Living Room of Society” and “Centers of Community” respectively.

Some observers suggest that craft breweries are a new genre of Third Place on the American landscape. These include George Homewood, Norfolk, Virginia’s director of planning and community development, who argues that craft breweries are “gathering places that are in many ways replacing things like libraries and recreation centers within a neighborhood”, while Jim Morrison, writing for The Smithsonian Magazine, describes craft breweries as “the evening analog to the third place of the morning coffeehouse.” Furthermore, many craft breweries are child and dog friendly, offering families a place where they can gather, interact, and relax. As such, they have an important role to play in the 15-Minute City.

One advantage that craft breweries have over many other Third Places (libraries, coffee shops, farmers markets etc.) is that they serve alcohol. As a stimulant, alcohol releases endorphins in our brains, allowing us to relax and be more amenable to interpersonal interactions. Research by the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar has demonstrated that people who have a pub (he did his research in England) they they frequent on a regular basis “tend to be more socially engaged, feel more contented and are more likely to trust other members of their community than those who do not drink at all”. 

The concept of the 15-Minute City got me thinking about breweries in my neighborhood. While 85% of Americans of legal drinking age live within ten miles of a craft brewery, I have no idea how many live within a 15-minute walk or bike ride of a craft brewery. The brewery closest to my house is a 23 minute walk or a seven-minute bike ride. There is a second (newly opened) that is a 13-minute bike ride. I guess I could always invest in a bicycle.

Earnest Brew Works (Westgate location) in Toledo, OH is a 7-minute bike ride (23-minute walk) from my house

Further Reading:

Jeffres, Leo W., Cheryl C. Bracken, Guowei Jian, and Mary F. Casey. 2009. The impact of Third Places on community quality of life. Applied Research Quality Life, Volume 4, Issue 4, pp. 333–345.

Papadopoulod, Efthymis, Alexandros Sdoukopoulos, and Ioannis Politis. 2023. Measuring compliance with the 15-minute city concept: State-of-the-art, major components and further requirements. Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 99.

Sandstrom, Gillian M. and Elizabeth W. Dunn. 2014. Is efficiency overrated?: Minimal social interactions lead to belonging and positive affect. Social Psychological and Personality Science, Volume 5, Issue 4, pp. 437-442.