Image by Aude, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
<<EDIT #2: Not sure exactly what’s going on, but the listing is still active at www.costar.com as of 11 AM today (9/30). To find it yourself, click on the link above and do a search for properties in ZIP code 20037.>>
<<EDIT: As you can see from today’s (9/27) comments below, the owner has withdrawn Brickskeller from the market. Thanks to John Nemeyer with Randall Hagner for the update.>>
You’ve been there – several rounds into an evening of “Around the World” at DC’s most famous beer bar – when someone in the group has a brilliant idea. “We could totally do this,” is usually how it starts, before listing all the reasons that you and your friends are ideally suited to run a place just like the Brickskeller.
Well here’s your chance.
Though you won’t see a “For Sale” sign out front or a listing for an open house this Sunday, the Brickskeller is officially on the market. Randall Hagner Ltd. Showcase lists 1523 22nd Street – the “Brickskeller Dining House and Inn” – as being available immediately for the low, low price of only $12.5 million (down from $15 million a week ago). The best way to find it from the home page is to do a search for properties in ZIP Code 20037. The entire five-floor building is for sale, including 40-plus guest rooms on four floors and the two-floor restaurant/bar. The alcohol license will convey to the new owners, but you won’t be able to keep the memorabilia or even the Brickskeller name – the current owners will be holding onto those.
I can’t speak from personal experience, having never drunk enough downstairs to necessitate an overnight stay, but the general consensus is that the rooming house-style Inn has seen better days. Guest rooms share common bathrooms in the hallways and are accessed via stairs or a hand-operated elevator.
Though the new owner will have to build a name for the new place from scratch, it’s hard to believe that the Brickskeller’s cache won’t carry over and help them start strong. Assuming the place remains a beer bar (and why would you mess with success?), they would do well to focus on delivering what they promise; these days, the Brickskeller’s reputation isn’t entirely positive on that front. As the manager of another popular bar joked, the $12 million dollar price tag is “about a million for every beer they have in stock.”
Check out the flyer, a .pdf found on the sale listing page, for more details. And if you’re already drunk when you read this, do yourself a favor and sleep on it before making an offer right away.
Capital Spice 
September 25, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Wow, this is big news. End of an era, but I agree—whatever ends up there will do just fine.
September 26, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I worked there 8 years ago. I remember when all the Texans came in for the inauguration and drank all the Shiner Bock.
September 26, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Whoever may read this and might even consider investing in this place here’s a quick warning!: Forget about it! The place is infested with Alot of mice, and has a severe fruit fly swarm attacking all the patrons. The foundation is rotting away and there’s a terrible stench of rotting corpses in several places all over. The owner is just selling the place because he opened another restaurant near Gallery Place and he didn’t keep this place up. Tax time is coming and he won’t be able to pay it. The brick is not making any money so don’t believe the hype. I feel bad for his family who opened the Brick 50years ago. Dave buried this company years ago and now he’s just running away from his obligations.good luck Brick staff and find new jobs, I did and in good timing, too!
September 27, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Who cane up with this? I would like to know since my wife and I OWN the Brickskeller and are NOT SELLING IT.
This post must be removed immediately. The Brickskeller is NOT for sale this is not true. We OWN the restaurant and we also own the word Brickskeller if these lies are not removed immediately you can expect legal action. The Brickskeller Dining House and Down Home Saloon is NOT for sale.
September 27, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Dave,
Thanks for responding. If the Brickskeller is not, in fact, for sale, I would encourage you to talk with John Nemeyer, Austin Bordley and/or Ana Carolina Rubio at Randall Hagner. They are all listed as sale contacts on the listing for 1523 22nd Street, NW – found here: http://showcase.costar.com/AppRoot.aspx?lt=1&lid=81910BF6C78E39A4D7704E39C3E05692#4906d479-07be-439e-a8c7-e21312f58dd7
I personally spoke with Mr. Nemeyer before I posted this, asking him if the entire building was included in the sale and further asking about what furnishings and materials would convey with the property. He was direct and clear in his answers: the whole building is for sale, including the restaurant/bar on the lower two floors, and although the furnishings and memorabilia will not convey, the liquor license will.
If this information is incorrect, I would encourage you to discuss all of this with Mr. Nemeyer directly.
September 27, 2008 at 2:36 pm
CapitalSpice:
Thanks very much for identifying yourself as a writer on the telephone. That’s weak.
As the listing was just withdrawn from the market by ownership; I would suggest that you retract the September 25th article.
Lastly, you will be hearing from Hagner counsel.
Thanks again for your wonderful work.
September 27, 2008 at 3:36 pm
John,
I’m happy to provide a statement to anyone who wants to contact me about the content of our conversation on Thursday. At no point did you even suggest to me that anything you were telling me was not for public consumption.
The listing for 1523 22nd Street, NW was publicly available on Hagner’s website – that’s where I first found it. I fail to see how my post’s drawing attention to it constitutes any wrongdoing on our part.
Because the listing has been withdrawn, I’ve included an edit at the top of the post to indicate this.
September 28, 2008 at 10:48 am
wow… bringing out the cayenne!
September 28, 2008 at 12:54 pm
This is awesome.
Also, I love Brickskellar and their many, many beers.
Hilarious. It’s on the market, it’s not on the market, it’s publicly listed, it’s not publicly listed. This is wildly entertaining.
September 28, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Also, I’m not sure what kind of “legal action” can be taken against someone merely for writing about a PUBLICLY available real estate listing.
September 29, 2008 at 4:26 pm
This is FABULOUS. Don’t you dare take the post down!
I love me a good interwebs squabble. Especially one where legal action is threatened with absolutely no grounds for it. NICE.
September 30, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I’ll totally represent you if they institute legal proceedings!
September 30, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Thanks for the support, everyone!
At this point, we have not heard anything further from the owner or Hagner, but we’ve spoken to one of our lawyer friends just in case they do decide to follow up.
We’ll keep you posted!
October 7, 2008 at 1:25 am
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