Plans for a craft beer tap room on Main Street are on schedule for an end-of-year opening, according to one of its partners.

“I think (opening by the end of 2012) is still fairly realistic,” said Travis Tuttle of Bridgeville.

“It seems in the past few weeks here the ball’s rolling a lot faster.”

A mid-summer date originally was declared in January by partner Gregory Deal, but the major overhaul of the buildings at 101-107 S. Main St. has taken longer than expected.

“We’ve been working on a lot of blueprints for the floor plan. The building is a shell right now, ready for us to go in and put some (layout) chalk lines down,” Tuttle said.

“The thing we are most active with right now is getting quotes for all of the projects and services we will be contracting out.”

In January, Butler Brew Works partners Nick Fazzoni and Deal, both of Butler, Paul Hytla of Pittsburgh and Tuttle bought the buildings for $30,000, according to RealSTATs, from Chris Ivory of Pittsburgh and Ecko Green Technologies, Clairton.

The former quarter-acre parcel at the corner of South Main and Jefferson streets, in addition to the former Hot Dog Shop and Eckerd Drugs, includes the Reiber Building, which housed a gun shop and a bookstore.

Starting on May 14, the Butler Brew Works partners auctioned off items and equipment from the Hot Dog Shop, announcing on their website: “With time comes change, and with our arrival on Main Street, we have to say goodbye to what we all remember as the Hot Dog Shop. We all have great memories of times spent there, and while the building will soon be gone, we want to leave everyone with a few things to help keep those memories alive.”

Items up for grabs included coffee tokens, menus and kitchenware, as well as the signs such as the old wooden breakfast sign, whose price reached $180 before bidding was closed May 31. Tuttle said the highest bid went to the Hot Dog Shop’s outdoor marquee, which sold for $200.

“We had been collecting stuff out of the Hot Dog Shop as we’ve been getting our building ready. It was a good success, a lot of good bids, and I think they were higher than we expected,” he said.

All money raised by the auction will help play for the demolition and facade improvement on the building.

“That’s pretty much the goal for money we are raising through our fans and this auction. We want them to be able to see where their money is going,” Tuttle said.

Butler Brew Works plans to hire five to 10 employees, Deal said in January, and will offer a small food menu, including appetizers and specials. Beer will be both brewed and sold on-site.

Although Butler Brew Works is not yet licensed to sell beer, the group’s five beer recipes include year-round, semi-seasonal and fully seasonal offerings.