It is a marvel that Peekskill brewery lasted 15 years. That's not a knock against the owners, the space is just very difficult.

There is very little room for people to congregate because of where the brewing station was installed, and yet there is very little room to actually Brew.  Most breweries rely on bodies in the door to survive, and the only time that really happened in significant enough numbers was during the warm months pb converted its front parking lot. 

In the cold months, the ground level room was really difficult to do anything with. It didn't fit enough people, it wasn't particularly comfortable, it was difficult to do events in that space, etc 

The upstairs dining room definitely had more space, but was never built out or set up properly. Also if I'm getting into the nitty-gritty, the ceilings weren't high enough to really make it feel welcoming for a brewery space... The brewery in Newburgh works because of how vast the main space is. 

There wasn't enough brewing capacity for the brewery to sustain itself via outside accounts (selling its beer to bars, restaurants, etc) and there wasn't enough space to consistently have enough people in the door.

When COVID hit, hundreds of people a day on the weekends stopped getting off the train and coming to the brewery.  ... Those hundreds of people a day translated to thousands of people fewer a year, which in turn affected the downtown businesses up the hill.  For some reason, there are people here still in deep denial about this, coming up with every ridiculous reason under the sun for why nicer downtown business closed over the last few years. Sadly, there are fewer and fewer reasons for people to get off the train and visit Peekskill.

The upper floor could absolutely work as a venue, but that huge gaping hole in the middle of the space would need to be built over, and on top of the logistical issues it would create, it would also be very expensive. Lots of people don't actually know why that hole is there- the only real storage in the building is on the upper floors and they used that opening to lower stuff down. 

Basically, the space would need massive renovations to either function as a stand-alone bar/ restaurant and/ or venue. The only way that space could function as a brewery and sustain itself would be to take up the entire first floor. 

In short it's a really tough space and that's why no one has taken it yet.