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Some bad news on the brew pub Zio Carlo, planned for the historic Gunn’s Cleaners building at the corner of College & Magnolia in the Near Southside. From what we’ve heard, work was underway on the project when an inspection revealed that the building’s new roof (installed after a fire and prior to the Zio Carlo development moving in) isn’t up to code and could harm the structural integrity of the building. The cost of a new roof would be significant, and things are stalled at this point. It may be that the cost of the new roof would be so much that Zio Carlo would not open.

Zio Carlo is to be a brew pub – a restaurant with on-site beer brewing, which is extremely rare in Fort Worth (these sorts of things are difficult enough thanks to Texas beer laws) and unheard of in the urban core. About the closest thing is The Covey out on Hulen – it’s not the same as Rahr, which is of course a brewery above all else.

We hope that a solution to Zio Carlo’s problems can be found – it’s a development we want to see on Magnolia, and it would be a unique draw for the Near Southside from the rest of the city and a great fit for its indie, local vibe. We hope that perhaps the city of Fort Worth can help in some way, and/or that the community at large might provide some sort of assistance. After all, we’d hate to see Zio Carlo die and the building get re-used for something more mundane and less enlivening to the street, like more street-deadening office space which already occupies so many buildings on Magnolia’s streetscape.

More on the Zio Carlo story to come, we’re sure.