Collar City Brewing is beginning work to convert the former Mount Ida Community Baptist Church building at 560 Congress St. in Troy into a brew pub. Louis Emory, one of five partners in the $1 million project, tells me the team is hoping for an opening in May.

Bill Newman, forefather of today’s Capital Region brewing scene, is working with Collar City Brewing as a consultant and will be aboard at least until until an opening brewmaster is hired. Emory says his brother Rob Emory will apprentice with the brewmaster and expects to take over brewing operations.

The brew pub will seat about 100 in the church’s former sanctuary, with a private-event space downstairs to accommodate another 100 or so. Emory says the business will have two kitchens, one dedicated to preparing food for those with allergies or sensitivities to dairy and/or gluten or other dietary restrictions. A head chef has not yet been hired.

Collar City’s seven-barrel brewing system is being designed and built by Portland Kettle Works, a company chosen in part because it uses American steel, Emory says.