The owner of Wacky Wings in Sudbury is promising a bigger and better restaurant when it reopens in the former Northern Breweries building on Lorne Street, hopefully within a year.
Craig Burgess confirmed Friday that he had purchased the former brewery with the intention of reopening his restaurant at the site.
While still disappointed not to be part of the redevelopment of downtown, Burgess said in an email that he’s excited to see how much of the old Lorne Street building is salvageable.
The brewery stopped operating in 2006, and a multi-year effort to convert the building into condominiums was eventually abandoned. The building has been for sale since 2023.
Burgess said he’s not yet sure how much of the original building will be incorporated into the new restaurant.
“We are determining that at the present time and cannot give accurate details quite yet until we fully determine with our team,” he said.
The original Wacky Wings on Shaughnessy Street was purchased by the city as part of a $12 million plan in 2023 to buy properties within a two-block radius of Sudbury Arena.
“I personally love historical features and will do my best to reuse what we can and even attempt to find others that may have some history pieces they may be willing to donate or sell to us.”
— Craig Burgess, owner of Wacky Wings
The city is building a new, $200 million arena complex and has bought several nearby properties in support of the project. Burgess resisted the takeover, wanting to become part of the downtown redevelopment.
While still disappointed at being forced to move, Burgess said he’s excited to create an expanded Wacky Wings using the space available on Lorne Street.
“We intend to make Wackys ‘wackier,’ with additional interactive elements such as boutique bowling, additional interactive gaming where you can win great prizes, gamified axe throwing, interactive golfing and mission-based entertainment and more with the extra space,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we really liked the previous location and still wish we could have been part of the new development, but we are moving forward as needed. The script has been flipped.”
Burgess hopes to incorporate “as much as possible” of the brewery’s history into his new restaurant.
“We are going to do as much as we can to salvage some of the heritage components of the site,” he said.
“I personally love historical features and will do my best to reuse what we can and even attempt to find others that may have some history pieces they may be willing to donate or sell to us.”
Once up and running, he expects the number of staff at the site to double and make the restaurant an attraction for all of northern Ontario.
“We are very excited to work with the city of Sudbury and turn the current eyesore from this (historic) building into a wackier version of Wackys,” he said.
“When we are done, it is our expectation this will not only be a next-generation food and beverage social concept with all the added ancillary offerings, but a true tourist attraction for northern Ontario located right in the heart of Sudbury.
“It will be one of a kind in northern Ontario … that will cater to adult outings, families, sports teams and much, much more,” he added.
