Lack of consistent adult interaction as an at-home father fueled the drive for Dave Musser and his wife, Bri Musser, to launch Bellwether Brewing six years ago at 2019 N. Monroe, near their north Spokane home.

Now, the Mussers plan to further expand their contacts list after having acquired the former United Hillyard Mall building at 5016 N. Market, in the Hillyard Business District, for another Bellwether location.

In addition to planning another Bellwether site, Musser is in talks with a few other business owners he thinks will make for ideal roommates in the 7,000-square-foot building, which is currently being renovated into a multiuse space.

The Mussers paid $355,000 for the building, which originally served as the United Hillyard Bank Building. The real estate transaction closed last month, he says.

“The goal is to bring in another brewery, a cider house, and coffee shop or two for this common space all under one roof,” says Musser, who adds that plans call for beer brewing at that location.

He hopes to prepare the building for a September debut but acknowledges the beginning of 2022 is a more realistic possibility. 

“We’re going to do the production in phases and want to get it right,” he says. “And there still seems to be a bit of a backlog in the permitting process with the city due to COVID.”

The couple have yet to come up with a name for that common space, but Musser says it feels fitting to incorporate the word “united” in the title.

Musser says he and Bri hope their new venture can help to fill a void in that part of the Hillyard neighborhood the way he asserts Bellwether Brewing does in their own Emerson-Garfield neighborhood.

“Beer brought people together in our neighborhood,” Musser claims. “And there just aren’t many gathering spaces in Hillyard that we can see.”

Musser says he’s currently working 0n the renovation effort with his father-in-law, who lives just a couple of blocks away from North Market Street.

Musser, who is 39, and 36-year-old Bri now have three children ages 9, 7, and 2, he says.

“We’re really excited about this neighborhood and the character of the building,” he says. “We’ve been dreaming of a location for the last couple of years now.”