Yarmouth-based Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co. intends to open its sixth location in December at the former Whit’s End Grill & Bar on Madison Avenue in Skowhegan. Whit’s End closed in September after 12 years when its owners decided to retire. Photo courtesy of Hight Properties

SKOWHEGAN — Two Skowhegan Area High School graduates who own a popular brewery and restaurant based in Yarmouth plan to open a location on Madison Avenue before the end of the year.

Brad Moll and Rob Bolduc, friends and members of the Class of 1990 who own Brickyard Hollow Brewing Co., will lease the building that housed Whit’s End Grill & Bar, which closed Friday. The building was operated as a restaurant for 60 years under four different owners.

Popular for its craft beer, gourmet pizza and brew pub menu, Brickyard Hollow has two locations, side-by-side, in Yarmouth, where the business started in 2017.

“We originated in Yarmouth and expanded to Freeport and then to Portland and then Ogunquit and now Skowhegan,” Moll said Wednesday.

Hight Properties LLC is purchasing the property and will lease it to Brickyard, which plans to start retrofitting the interior and exterior of the building in the next two weeks to align with the decor of its other locations and brand, according to Moll. Hight Properties, a real estate investment company, focuses on commercial development in central Maine.

Sam Hight, a supporter of Skowhegan’s revitalization efforts, contacted Moll to ask if he would be interested in opening a Brickyard location at the Madison Avenue property, according to Moll. The building for many years has been a popular dining venue for not only Skowhegan-area residents, but also people traveling north and south on U.S. Route 201 to and from Quebec. Madison Avenue is also U.S. Route 201.

Brickyard holds community nights for various nonprofits where a percentage of the sales benefit those organizations, according to Moll. He said the Skowhegan site was an attractive one for several reasons, including that the town is where Moll and Bolduc grew up and it would be an opportunity to give back. He said Brickyard likes to entrench itself in the communities it serves.

“Our whole brand and mission has always been community driven,” Moll said.

Whit’s End had operated at the Madison Avenue location for 12 years. The building was constructed by Tilly and Carleton Whittemore in 1964, according to a news release from Hight and Brickyard. The eatery was then known as Whittemore’s Restaurant.

Joel Lizzotte and Ken Hershbery had the restaurant from 1979 to 1988, after the Whittemores owned it. In 1988, the Charrier family opened a restaurant there and operated it until 2010, at which time Whitney Cunliffe purchased it and opened it as Whit’s End, the release said.

“We are happy that our restaurant will continue to cater to local customers, and even happier that it will continue to stay locally owned and community focused,” Cunliffe said in the release.

Hight said that for 60 years, generations of Skowhegan residents and visitors have shared meals in the building.

“We are excited to bring on a partner in Brad and Brickyard Hollow to continue this tradition,” he said. “Brickyard Hollow will contribute to the growth of the town by offering another attraction to Skowhegan, with lunch and dinner served seven days a week.”

Moll said he and Bolduc are excited to return to Skowhegan to become part of the community.

“The goal of Brickyard Hollow is to create a hyperlocal, community-based pub where families and friends can gather for laughs or come together and support local causes while enjoying great local small-batch beer and food,” Moll said. “We are excited to continue this tradition in Skowhegan.”

He said the outdoor dining patio will remain as a feature of the restaurant, which will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. starting sometime in December.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said of the new venture. “We’re certainly looking forward to it.”

He said that while some employees will move from other Brickyard sites to the Skowhegan location and some other staff have been hired, he will be looking to hire wait staff, bartenders, kitchen employees, hostesses and managers.

“Top to bottom, we’re going to be hiring,” he said. “We’ll probably advertise early in November.”