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This story is a joint publication partnership between the Rochester Beacon and the Cleveland Prost.
After weeks of uncertainty surrounding the future of the former K2 Brothers Brewing property, the prospective buyers stepped into public view Wednesday night.
Veteran brewer Phill MacArthur and commercial real estate owner Tom Quigley unveiled plans to buy the former K2 Brothers site on Empire Boulevard and reopen it as a new brewery and restaurant—not a revival of K2 Brothers itself, but a new venture at the same address.
The pair appeared before the Penfield Town Board for the first time Wednesday. Their purchase of 1221 Empire Blvd. remains contingent on approval of a special use permit.
Their public debut also closed the loop on a smaller transparency question that had lingered around the project: Penfield had agreed to withhold the applicants’ identities from public notices at their request, a decision the Rochester Beacon challenged through the Freedom of Information Law. New York’s Committee on Open Government told the Beacon that kind of request generally conflicts with the state’s presumption that government records are open.
The board didn’t vote on the permit Wednesday; that decision is expected later this month.
(It’s also worth noting: Wednesday’s session opened with board members and residents reading the Declaration of Independence in full to mark America’s 250th anniversary — a reminder, as one board member put it, of just how long and specific that document really is. It made for a fitting warm-up to a meeting that, in its own much smaller way, was also about who gets to know what, and when.)
MacArthur and Quigley’s plan is largely a restoration, not a reinvention. Quigley, who is MacArthur’s father-in-law and heads Birch Creek LLC, joined the meeting by Zoom; MacArthur appeared in person and read a prepared statement outlining his brewing background, his ties to the community, and his intention to make the still-unnamed brewery a good neighbor.
The pair want to clean up and repaint the former K2 building, assess what brewing equipment is still usable, and open a new brewery and small restaurant in the same footprint the property occupied for nearly a decade before K2 Brothers closed abruptly last year. MacArthur said the building would be painted in earth tones similar to neighboring properties.
The one structural change: the second floor, previously used as a residence, would be converted into three offices—one for the brewery itself, with the other two potentially leased out.
In his statement, MacArthur said he hopes to recreate some of the community feel that made K2’s beer garden and live music such a draw, even as the new venture charts its own identity. Quigley, who brings decades of experience in commercial real estate ownership and property management, joined him in describing the project as a long-term commitment to the neighborhood.
Because the property sits within the town’s LaSalle Landing Development District, a change in ownership isn’t as simple as it would be elsewhere—the board is required to hear community concerns and vote on a new special use permit, according to Kerry Ivers, Penfield director of development services. No concerns were raised Wednesday, and given the property’s decade-long history as a brewery, board members didn’t signal any major objections during the work session. Still, it’s a hurdle MacArthur and Quigley need to clear before the sale can close: both men reiterated that their purchase of the property is contingent on the permit’s approval.
Board questions Wednesday centered mostly on parking and noise. MacArthur said the brewery would use staff to manage parking access once capacity is reached, potentially including some kind of shuttle system, and that live music would likely run only Thursday through Saturday nights, wrapping by 9 p.m.—ambiance, he said, not a concert venue.
Quigley was also asked whether the brewery might eventually pursue the neighboring former Agway property, which K2’s previous owners had purchased but never developed. He said the land is expensive, but he and MacArthur have kicked around ideas for it—a farmers market, or some kind of agricultural or greenhouse use, an area where Quigley said he has 35 years of experience. He was clear they wouldn’t buy it just to use as overflow parking, though he allowed that plans could change down the road.
The brewery doesn’t have a name yet. But it will have a completely new identity.
MacArthur has brewed professionally for more than a decade. He’s the original and current head brewer at Preservation Beer Company, the Fairport craft brewery that transitioned from contract brewing to a full production facility under owners Casey Dunlavey and Seth Clark. MacArthur helped lead this shift, developing recipes that were then produced through partners including the now-closed Custom Brewcrafters and, more recently, Roc Brewing and Rohrbach Brewing. He and Preservation lead brewer Nick Mesrobian also brew for sister brewery Lock 32 Brewing Co. in Pittsford. MacArthur previously created recipes for the now-closed Seven Story Brewing in Bushnell’s Basin. (Seven Story, Lock 32, and Preservation are all owned by Dunlavey and Clark.)
Before all of that, he worked at Custom Brewcrafters in Honeoye Falls, one of the region’s pioneering craft breweries. He recently won a medal for his Scotch Ale at the New York State Craft Beer Competition, the largest state-level competition in the country.
Monroe County property records still list 1221 Empire Blvd. LLC—the entity formed by former K2 owners Kyle and Brad Kennedy—as the property’s owner. The property also remains tied up in a foreclosure action brought by Webster-based EIE LLC. Separately, Canandaigua National Bank’s foreclosure against the Kennedys’ Walworth brewery property, the former Freewill Elementary School, is scheduled for auction July 21 in Wayne County.
When Penfield first posted the public hearing notice on the special use permit on its website, it did so without identifying either applicant, at their request. A June 11 letter of intent submitted jointly by MacArthur and Quigley opened with a bolded ask for confidentiality, citing MacArthur’s “current employment within the industry”—he wanted the chance to tell his employer about the project himself, rather than have it surface through public filings. The town agreed, and its official notice referred only to “A Special Use Permit Application at 1221 Empire Blvd.”
The Rochester Beacon, reviewing town board materials over the weekend, found the redacted application and filed a Freedom of Information Law request for the unredacted records and correspondence explaining the town’s decision. About 24 hours later, Penfield partially complied, releasing an application that named MacArthur and Quigley—days before Wednesday’s meeting. The Beacon held that information rather than publishing it immediately, opting to wait for a fuller picture of both the applicants and the town’s redaction process before going to print.
That fuller picture is still incomplete. The town has not yet turned over the remaining records sought—including any correspondence laying out why officials agreed to withhold the names, or whether they consulted legal counsel first—and the Beacon continues to seek those answers. Requests for comment from Town Clerk Amy Steklof, Town Supervisor Kevin Berry and Ivers went unanswered before Wednesday’s session.
Before the meeting, the Beacon also asked New York’s Committee on Open Government—the state agency that advises municipalities on FOIL and the Open Meetings Law—whether a town can withhold an applicant’s identity simply because they ask for confidentiality. Acting Executive Director and Counsel Kristin Bergin’s answer was direct: “In short, the answer is no.” FOIL starts from a presumption that records are open, she said, and an applicant’s preference for privacy “would have no bearing on whether the agency is permitted to withhold a record in whole or in part.”
She noted one wrinkle: Because Quigley hadn’t yet completed the purchase, the application might not yet count as a record tied to an established ownership interest. But, Bergin added, once a sale closes, “the name of the purchaser would need to be made public.” The committee’s opinions are advisory, not binding, but courts and attorneys routinely lean on them when interpreting the law.
Ivers, addressing the matter via an email statement before Wednesday’s session, said the board’s role is narrow: “The Town Board is essentially charged with reviewing only the proposed use and determining whether that use complies with the standards of the district. … The identity of the owner or business operator is not a relevant factor for consideration of this application.”
That explains how the board evaluates the permit itself. It doesn’t explain why the applicants’ names were left off the public notice in the first place, or why the town agreed to the confidentiality request at all—questions that remain open as the Beacon’s records request continues to work its way through the town.
The board is expected to take up the special use permit later this month. If it’s approved, Quigley’s purchase of the property can move forward. The Beacon is continuing to press Penfield for the remaining records—the correspondence that would show how, and why, officials decided a request for privacy was reason enough to keep an applicant’s name off the public notice, even though the state’s own open-government office says that reasoning doesn’t hold up.
Will Cleveland is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. A former Democrat and Chronicle reporter, he writes about beer in the Finger Lakes region and Western New York on Substack.
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Well written and thorough reporting. Excellent work.