Downtown’s Front Street Brewery will close during January to update the nearly 10,000-square-foot building that dates to about 1865.

That includes refinishing floors, painting, retiling and more. A WDI grant will help with façade repairs, and funds from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund will help with the exterior work. Front Street Brewery’s nearly 60 employees will be involved.

“They’re not going to be out of work,” said Ellie Craig, sales and public relations manager for the brewery, bar and restaurant, which opened about 26 years ago. “So we’re also very cognizant of how that’s going to affect them in an already tough month for them in the Wilmington market, just because we are such a tourist-driven economy.”