Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

How did you find your location?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • How did you find your location?

    Interested to learn more about how other breweries were able to find the real estate/property that became your brewery. Did you use a realtor? Drove by a building with a For Lease/Sale sign in the window and it fit your needs?

    Having a hard time locating a suitable property (either in size, utilities, price, location) and would really appreciate to learn how others found their brewery’s location.

    Thank you.

  • #2
    Still trying to find a suitable and affordable property. I am interested to hear how others found their property to start their brewery.

    Thanks!

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Catfish002 View Post
      Still trying to find a suitable and affordable property. I am interested to hear how others found their property to start their brewery.

      Thanks!
      We make Cider/Mead, but we could make beer if we wanted. We purchased a 12 acre farm with a 50x60 barn, with an upstairs. We did have to get some zoning variances. I would tell you too look outside the box and find a farm. Just make sure you get any zoning issues worked out before purchasing. Many retailers aren't interested in this headache so there is so much less competition on pricing.

      The best part is we have a 30 year mortgage, half of that is on Farm service agency terms of 1.5% APR.

      Common sense would tell you to build where there are lots of people, but it doesn't seem to matter for us. We have our own local following but also get people from out of state and visitors driving by on the highway. I am also at ease knowing that any future expansion can be accommodated by our ownership of a large property with limited restrictions.

      The rural breweries are doing spectacular here in Indiana. Just look at 450 North! Also Dark Horse in Marshal, MI is rural.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Catfish002 View Post
        Still trying to find a suitable and affordable property. I am interested to hear how others found their property to start their brewery.
        Buying, leasing, or leasing with option? New construction, renovation, or building to suit? Urban, suburban, or rural? Brewpub, tap room, or production brewery? I'm sure people here would be willing to help if they knew what information would be helpful.
        Sent from my Microsoft Bob

        Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
        seanterrill.com/category/brewing | twomilebrewing.com

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by a10t2 View Post
          Buying, leasing, or leasing with option? New construction, renovation, or building to suit? Urban, suburban, or rural? Brewpub, tap room, or production brewery? I'm sure people here would be willing to help if they knew what information would be helpful.
          Yes, sorry, I should have been more specific in my original post.

          I am currently interested in buying a property for a very small brewpub. Preferably a small former restaurant/cafe with at least 1,200 sq ft. Most likely the property will need to be a rural location to help keep the price tag hopefully lower.

          I am working with a realtor and I regularly check the commercial real estate sites like LoopNet, and also Craigslist, but all we are seeing is that everything is listed around a half a million dollars to several millions in price and that these properties are more geared towards large corporations or big dollar chain restaurants. I am located in middle Tennessee and the real estate market here is very hot right now.

          I am looking for more of a “bargain bin” property, not a property that a large national chain company would be interested in, with a max price point of $150,000 or under.

          I am really interested in how others who started their breweries in a “bargain bin” (aka inexpensive run down shack) found such a location.

          Are their other websites I should be checking or people I should be talking with in order to find such a property?

          Thanks y’all.
          Last edited by Catfish002; 05-03-2019, 05:58 PM.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by AmbrosiaOrchard View Post
            We make Cider/Mead, but we could make beer if we wanted. We purchased a 12 acre farm with a 50x60 barn, with an upstairs. We did have to get some zoning variances. I would tell you too look outside the box and find a farm. Just make sure you get any zoning issues worked out before purchasing. Many retailers aren't interested in this headache so there is so much less competition on pricing.

            The best part is we have a 30 year mortgage, half of that is on Farm service agency terms of 1.5% APR.

            Common sense would tell you to build where there are lots of people, but it doesn't seem to matter for us. We have our own local following but also get people from out of state and visitors driving by on the highway. I am also at ease knowing that any future expansion can be accommodated by our ownership of a large property with limited restrictions.

            The rural breweries are doing spectacular here in Indiana. Just look at 450 North! Also Dark Horse in Marshal, MI is rural.
            Thanks for the info!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Catfish002 View Post
              I am looking for more of a “bargain bin” property, not a property that a large national chain company would be interested in, with a max price point of $150,000 or under.
              I lived in your part of the world briefly, but won't pretend to know anything about the market there now. In general, I don't see anyone getting the doors open, for a brewpub, with that as their total real estate costs. At the end of the day you're talking about either taking over warehouse space and building out a kitchen, cold room(s), bathrooms, etc., or taking over a restaurant space that has major problems in order to be within your budget. And in our experience construction scales opposite from real estate: you pay contractors more for jobs in rural locations.

              Regardless, I would start developing a relationship with a realtor, preferably one who knows the local commercial market. Without that connection we probably wouldn't have our location; we made an offer something like 12 days after it came on the market and weren't even the first.
              Sent from my Microsoft Bob

              Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
              seanterrill.com/category/brewing | twomilebrewing.com

              Comment


              • #8
                a1Ot2, thanks for your reply and suggestions.

                Comment


                • #9
                  You didn't mention this, but this may also be helpful to you. We're leasing our spot, so we used loop.net primarily, and also other websites to find our spot. Most have filtering and subscription capability that lets you dial in ranges of criteria that you care about and receive email when new listings pop up.

                  We started off by determining which city we wanted to be in. Once we arrived at that decision, we researched which city zoning allowed for a brewery or could easily be adjusted via permit to allow for a brewery. We excluded anything where we would need to change zoning. This paid big dividends for us in time savings and reduction in hassle. Your state regulatory body may require some information from your city (ours required a zoning letter that states that city zone permits a brewery in the building we are in) so if you can avoid dealing with zoning, it can speed up both sides of the process. The feds don't care about that stuff.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X