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By Luci Scott – The Arizona Republic

You can’t say Anthony Canecchia’s tenure in downtown Chandler has been a Cinderella story. Considering his gender, it’s more a Cinder-fella story. So says Eileen Brill Wagner, executive director of the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership. Regardless of the description, he’s a success story. Canecchia arrived on the scene in September 2007, after he worked feverishly to get the blessing of county health inspectors to open SanTan Brewing Co., a microbrewery and restaurant. His arrival created a buzz. “We’ve arrived,” Patti Bruno said at the time. She was then president of the partnership. The brewpub would attract people who usually go to Tempe or Scottsdale for nightlife, she predicted. She was prescient. SanTan Brewing has become popular and lively. Canecchia worked about seven years as an assistant brewer at Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe, spent a little time out of state and then decided to open his own business in Chandler. He opened with a lease in the former Valley National Bank at San Marcos Place and Commonwealth Avenue. He expanded with an outdoor patio. He endured a worldwide hops shortage and worried about the ensuing high costs. But now more growers have stabilized the hops market. And Canecchia is undertaking a $700,000 expansion. That’s in addition to the $3 million he is paying to buy the building he occupies, allowing him to expand into space vacated by previous next-door tenants. SanTan Brewing is expanding its brewing capacity and adding canning equipment to produce 30 12-ounce cans a minute. Canecchia plans to sell beer statewide in bars, restaurants and retail stores. Canecchia, who has five 15-barrel fermenters, is adding seven fermenters with a capacity of 30 barrels each. The restaurant covers 5,100 square feet, including a 1,200-square-foot brewing facility. The expansion is 3,700 square feet. Canecchia’s goal is to finish the expansion by June 1. He started with about 25 employees, now has 57, and by the time the expansion is complete he expects to have about 65. Developer Niels Kreipke of Desert Viking, an active proponent of downtown, praised Canecchia. Making a downtown dynamic requires a host of mixed uses, and the brewery enhances the experience, Kreipke said. “He’s been a great addition. Combine that with Kokopelli Winery, and I think we’re maybe the only downtown in the country that has a microwinery and a microbrewery all in the same place,” he said. “Downtown Chandler truly has become a destination.” Canecchia’s Sunspot Gold pilsner is sold at Floridino’s Pizza & Pasta at Alma School Road and Galveston Street, a restaurant owned by City Councilman Jeff Weninger. Weninger said as soon as he heard Canecchia would be selling off-site, he wanted to be a part of it because the beer is good, he likes Canecchia and the business partnership promotes Chander. Canecchia said: “I want to be the premier microbrewery in metro Phoenix.” Canecchia’s landlord, the building’s co-owner, Shaun Shahan, a Bozeman, Mont., real-estate agent, is a customer who stops in to drink a beer, and the men became acquainted. “When the opportunity arose (to buy his building) it was a no-brainer,” Canecchia said. No broker was used. “Over a couple of beers we hashed it out and shook hands and went forward,” Canecchia said.