Lovers of the Legend Brown Ale, rejoice: Richmond’s oldest continuously operating craft brewery plans to stay put for the foreseeable future.

Legend Brewing Co. made headlines in March when it put its Manchester headquarters, brewery and pub up for sale. But citing a lack of interest, aside from a few informal conversations about the 1.3-acre property, the brewmeisters over at Legend believe they’ll stick around for a bit.

“We’re planning on staying a while,” says Legend vice president Dave Gott. “It’s still on the market, but we don’t foresee anything happening any time soon.”

Ideally, Gott says, someone would purchase the property and let Legend continue its current operations.

One factor in putting the brewery up for sale was the rapid rise in real estate taxes that Legend has encountered. From 2018 to 2023, Legend’s real estate taxes rose from $13,000 a year to $47,000. In that time, Manchester has seen a number of new high-rise apartment and office buildings sprout in a neighborhood that was once derisively called “Dogtown.”

Founded on the backside of its current building in 1994, Legend is an O.G. of the craft beer renaissance. West 6th Street, which the tasting room faced, was just a gravel road when Legend began operations.

At one point, Legend was the only craft brewery in town. A 2012 change in Virginia law led to an explosion of breweries in the region, allowing brewers to sell alcohol without having to operate a full-service kitchen.

But the craft beer scene has fallen on hard times both locally and nationally.

In 2023, craft beer sales declined for the first time since the Brewers Association began tracking those numbers, aside from 2020. In the mid-year report it issued this July, the trade organization stated that while 54% of surveyed breweries reported growth in the first half of this year compared to the year previous, beer sales were relatively static as the industry saw increased competition from other products like ready-to-drink cocktails, and distributors and retailers sought to simplify their offerings in a crowded marketplace. Inflation and prices have also hurt the industry.

Locally, Isley Brewing Co. and Castleburg Brewery and Taproom both ceased operations late last year; Karl Homburg, the owner of Castleburg, said that rising costs — namely rent — led him to close up shop.

Like many businesses, Gott says, Legend hasn’t completely recovered its footing from the pandemic.

“People don’t want to go out as much as they used to,” he says. “People are ordering from DoorDash and other places. It’s just not quite the same as it was before COVID.”

Legend has also been impacted by demographic changes in Manchester and the fact that fewer work downtown than they did before the pandemic.

“We used to have booming lunches,” Gott says. “I hate to blame it on something that happened years ago, but not that many people are downtown anymore.”

In recent years, the construction boom restricted street parking near Legend, which impacted business; Gott says parking is no longer an issue.

“That hurt us quite a bit, when people would drive 20 minutes to get here and there’s nowhere to park,” Gott says. “We had a hard time just finding enough parking for our employees during all the construction.”

These changes led Legend to drastically reduce its menu.

“It’s a double-edge sword,” Gott says. “It’s great to have a fantastic big menu, five guys in the kitchen, but if you’ve only got four tables at once because no one’s downtown anymore, you have to jostle and move things around.”

Gott says that Legend, like many craft breweries right now, will stick primarily to its standard beers. Still, Legend plans to brew all of its beloved seasonal offerings, including the Winter White. To satisfy requests from retailers, it plans to package its brews in six-packs of 12-ounce cans.

Legend has also been in the news regarding the construction of a planned high-rise that would block the view of the James River from its patio. Brooklyn-based developer Avery Hall Investments has plans to construct a 17-story multi-phase project called 301 West 6th Street. In response to these concerns, the developer said it would change its plans to preserve more of the view from Legend’s deck. Avery Hall did not respond to requests for comment and updated timeline for the project.

“It’s going to happen, I’m sure, and the city is 100% behind it,” says Gott of the development. “I think most builders aren’t building right now because of interest rates and the cost of goods. There are quite a few projects on hold that were supposed to be started by now.”

Even if Legend’s property does eventually sell, Gott says that fans will still be able to purchase their beer.

“We’ve got a lot of ideas about what we may or may not want to do,” he says. “I can’t quite address anything directly at this point. We want the brand to continue on, that I can tell you.”

Whether your preference is for a hoppy Hazey Daze IPA or the easy drinking Legend Lager, Gott invites everyone to visit for a pint.

“We’re not closing,” Gott says. “We’re still there, we plan on being there, and we’d like to see the faces we’ve always seen.

“We hope people will continue coming, and those who haven’t come down for a while will come back and see us.”