(EDITED Wednesday to add details about the previous uses of this space.)
Looks like the large-ish restaurant space on State and Packard is changing hands/brands again. The Happy's Pizza signage is down and "Craft Breww City" is coming soon, according to new banners facing State and Packard Streets.
This appears to be a second location for a popular Farmington Hills spot. CBwwC opened about three years ago at 12 Mile and Orchard Lake road, formerly home to a beloved but dive-y place called Roosevelts. The right idea at the right time, I think. There are no shortage of places to find great beers in Ann Arbor, but it can't hurt to have another, especially if they can get some rare ones. (Website promised a Founders barrel-aged series, so that seems promising.)
They will need to have a great hook to be able to sustain business outside of football Saturdays. There's no parking, save for street parking, anywhere near this intersection. Before Happy's came to this space, it was the unexceptional Packard Pub. Before that it was Artisan Bistro, and before that it was an Atlanta Bread Company franchise. Before that, Espresso Royale had a location here. If you want to go even further back, there was an arcade here called Double Focus in the 80s and early 90s. They stubbornly insisted on tokens, until Pinball Pete's took over the space and converted the machines to legal tender, and added their then-ubiquitous 25 cent automatic fountain-pop and snack vending machines.
I don't know why CBC spells Breww with two W's. I suspect it was easier to trademark and also carries a mystique, like how Buffalo Wild Wings was originally called "bw-3." (It's because they served sandwiches on Weck rolls, another Buffalo-specific food item. "Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck.")
It was a BBQ restaurant for awhile, too. I ate there once–it tasted like the food was made far away, trucked in, and reheated in a particularly unsavory microwave.
Oh THAT’S the one I forgot. The RUB BBQ Pub. That’s what it was right before Happy’s. I worked on Central Campus and right after they opened, they brought us free samples to try to score some catering. BUT, they didn’t bring us BBQ.
Yep, ERC was here mid 1990s. And sometime it was the Packard Pub.
And the shortlived Artisan Bistro before Packard Pub but after ERC. They had delicious breakfast sandwiches when they first opened and I made a point to walk past them at least one morning a week.