Oskar Blues Pulls Out of Boulder Train Depot Project

But on Wednesday, the Longmont-based brewer ended negotiations to lease the property.

Now the developer is searching for a new restaurant to inhabit the 122-year-old building and bring some drawing power to the $58 million project near the intersection of 30th and Pearl streets as construction looms.

"There were just a lot of details surrounding the entire project that need to move forward and make some more progress before we would go through with it," Oskar Blues spokesman Chad Melis said. "There is a lot of opportunity out there, and this one seemed like it needed to be further developed before we put some additional effort in that direction."

Oskar Blues signed a letter of intent to lease the historic train building — once the Union Pacific Depot in downtown Boulder — on May 14. A combination restaurant and brewpub, it would have been the popular brewer’s first location in Boulder. The brewery operates restaurants in Lyons and Longmont.

The company is preparing to open a 36,000-square-foot combination brewery, restaurant and music venue in North Carolina later this year and experienced a 50 percent sales growth from 2011 to 2012, Melis said. The brewer this month added Alabama to the states where its beer is sold and will launch in the Chicago area next month, Melis said.