OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More than creative beer concoctions will be growing at a new brewhouse and restaurant soon to open west of downtown Omaha.

Local founders of Launch Brewing, set to come this summer to 2566 Farnam St., see their enterprise also as an incubator for entrepreneurial talent. They plan to hire a group of budding brewers to ferment favorite recipes for customers. Those in-house brewers will gain experience in other business aspects — and the best of class then will be offered a stake in a sibling brewery.

The idea is to build a family of breweries, while providing that launching pad for beer lovers who otherwise could not afford the cost of starting their own business.

“We thought, ‘Let’s give it a shot and help dreams come true,’ ” said co-founder and Executive Director Melanie Phelan. “We’re trying to remove that barrier of entry to your own property by investing and training and raising up those brewers we know will be successful.”

Within a decade, she said, the local investment group that includes developers Mike Peter and Ben Katt envisions a half-dozen or so additional Launch sites across the state operating as a network under the same brand and management team. All will be owned by the original investors, but the “launched” brewer would have “creative control” and a financial share in the company, Phelan told the Omaha World-Herald.

It’s a business model she said is untried and unique to the area’s brewing industry.

Gabriela Ayala, who heads the Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild, agreed: “I’m unaware of any other business model that works that way in the Midwest.”

Meanwhile, the Launch team has started to customize their headquarters, a nearly 5,000-square-foot space in a century-old building in an up-and-coming pocket that neighboring merchants call Farnam Hill.

Recently, that roughly five-square-block area anchored by a string of “Auto Row” warehouses built in the 1920s-era automobile boom earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

Phelan sees that commercial stretch between downtown and midtown as “the next neighborhood that’s going to pop.”

For its part, the Launch group is preparing a ground-floor storefront that most recently served as a printing shop. With seating for about 120, the place will include a main restaurant and taproom that opens to another social area where patrons can watch (through a glass wall) a team of brewers work their craft.

Phelan described the food menu as a healthier, “elevated” version of bar food. Some 18 beer types made on-site by the in-house brewers will be featured along with other cocktails.

All is to be served up in a pub decorated in the theme of the 1960s space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Patrons will see Sci-Fi propaganda posters, a mirrored bar and a brewhouse that feels like Mission Control.

Historical elements of the property will be preserved or replicated, including the terrazzo floor, wood paneling and crown molding on the ceilings.

Neighbors including the Populus co-working business that moved last year onto floors above Launch Brewing look forward to the additional day and evening pedestrian flow that’s expected to follow the new brewery.

“We’re excited; they’ll be a great addition to the neighborhood,” said Populus founder Micah Yost. “That new foot traffic will help build the energy and viability of our little corridor.”

The search is to start soon for the first batch of budding brewers to work at Launch. Beer-makers are encouraged to submit a résumé. Three likely will be hired for up to a year in the initial round, Phelan said, and will be responsible for making beer recipes for six to nine taps.

Phelan, who also owns a local event business, envisions the brewers helping in other areas of the restaurant and bar. A select few would be chosen to launch the future brewery businesses.

She said the incubation and training part of the enterprise would remain at the Farnam Hill mothership.

As pronounced by their logo, her team looks forward to taking beer appreciation to another level. It says: “Launch Brewing. One giant leap for beerkind.”