Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden, one of Rainey Street’s signature establishments, will soon break ground on a massive construction project on an adjacent lot on Rainey Street that will add an extra 15,000 square feet of dining, lounge, event and performance space. Groundbreaking will take place on March 20th.
The expansion will be on an adjacent lot to the north at 81.5 Rainey Street which has served as staff parking and outdoor event space until now. The addition will increase the total standing capacity of Banger’s to more than 2,000 people.
The new building will greatly expand Banger’s food, drink and entertainment offerings with a number of exciting new additions:
Another custom 101-tap draft system will be constructed, bringing the total number of taps to 207. This will give Banger’s the largest draft system in the state of Texas, and also one of the largest draft systems in the entire world.
A custom, walk-in beer cellar to age and store specialty beers.
A full meat processing facility, including a cure room for the production of salamis and other cured products. It will also have a meat rail to transport and break down whole animals. All fresh sausage production will be moved to this facility.
A large smokehouse with custom grills and smokers.
A 300-person event space in the basement with the option to convert it into another restaurant/bar venue in the future.
The ground floor will consist of the outdoor beer bar, the meat processing facility and the new smokehouse. It can also be converted into a 400-person private event space.
The interior of the second story will be used as private offices, and the covered outside deck will be used as an additional private event space for up to 300 people.
The basement will also house a specialty vegetable fermentation and pickling room.
Banger’s offices will relocate from behind the stage at 81 Rainey into the new building, opening 81 Rainey for possible future retail use.
Construction will last approximately 11 months with an opening date in time for SXSW of 2018. It will have no effect on Banger’s regular business operations. The process will unfold via a video series on Banger’s Facebook and Instagram pages to provide friends and future visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the intricate teamwork involved.
“We’ve spent about three years designing this project, and I’m very proud of where we landed. This expansion allows us to not only grow our existing business, but also expand the experience that we offer to our customers, both now and well into the future,” says Ben Siegel, proprietor of Banger’s. “More than anything, this expansion is going to allow us to do a lot more cool stuff in the world of cooking, curing, roasting and smoking whole animals and their various parts.”
A world-class, local team of design and construction professionals has been instrumental in bringing this expansion to life:
Architects: Jeff Krolicki, Joshua Hogan and Jay Knowles of Maker Architects
General Contractor: Colby Wallis of Wallis Consulting Services, LLC
Civil Engineer: Perales Engineering
Structural Engineer: MJ Structures
MEP Engineer: Bay & Associates
Interior Design: Lilanne Steckel with Lilanne Steckel Interior Design and Lauren Siegel of In Good Taste Design
