May 2017.  Fire broke out at the 132 year old Riverside Inn in Cambridge Springs. The Riverside Inn was a meeting place for the entire community.  Just about everyone has a memory of the place, and all of a sudden it was gone.

Jeremy Ball worked at the Riverside Inn as a kid in the 90s and was manager from 2014 up until the fire.

"It was so devastating.  The community was shocked.  Everyone was just brokenhearted.  It took me months to recover and figure it all out,” he said.
  

Ball is now the General Manager of the brewery and restaurant that is being built on the very same site that the Riverside Inn once stood.  He's excited because work crews should be finished with the construction by mid-summer.

"I think it's going to keep the life of the Riverside going.  A different form. A new chapter. But I think there's lots in store for people,” says Ball.
  

Jason Howles and his wife purchased the property six months after the fire. They named the new business the Riverside Brewing Company.  Howles is a landscaper and is also in the maple syrup business. He says people will see both of those themes at the restaurant and brewery. The grounds will be beautiful with outside dining and access to French Creek.  Maple will be a key flavor in some of the food and beer.

"I think that's one of the biggest gratifications that we get out of this project is being able to bring something back to the community that they lost.  We really enjoyed that,” says Howles.
   

People have been driving by the site to take a look at the new building. Ball says no one will know what it looks like inside until opening day.

"It's a real treasure inside and once we let people in you're going to be really shocked,” he said.
            

Although the Riverside Brewing Company will not open until mid-summer, the owners will host a party every Thursday night in the parking lot beginning May 23.  There will be live entertainment. Craft beer from the brewery will also be served.