Calturas to close after offer on building
Lodi winery and brewery halts construction on planned second phase
After only five months in business, Calturas Winery and Brewery is closing its doors to the public effective immediately after receiving an unsolicited offer to purchase the building.
According to Calturas co-founder and CEO Chris Santana, a broker in the community that she and her husband, Xavier, were familiar with reached out to them and asked if the building was available.
“We said ‘no, but bottom line we’re business people so feel free to make an offer’ and we stated that it wouldn’t be at market if we were to consider anything,” she said. “They gave us an offer we couldn’t refuse, essentially.”
Santana wouldn’t divulge who is purchasing the property but did say it was an brand-name company that plans to use the building for manufacturing purposes.
“I think that the City of Lodi is going to be very excited to have them,” she said. “I‘ll tell you they have more money than I do. It will be very good for Lodi. It’s a worldwide brand.”
Santana said Calturas is overwhelmed with gratitude for how the community has embraced the business.
The Santanas had big plans for the building located at 1333 E. Kettleman Lane, which was formerly a car dealership. Plans called for two phases which included a wine tasting bar with private lounge areas and tasting rooms, a restaurant, brewery, bocce courts, an outdoor entertainment venue and a conference center. The first phase had been completed and construction on the second phase had just begun when the negotiations on the offer got serious.
Santana said selling the building provides the opportunity to rethink the business strategy.
“We’ve learned some things that we can be more strategic about if we open a new location and we are looking to partner up with some existing business as well,” she said.
Calturas is currently working through opportunities to relocate the tasting room to a new location in Lodi as well as potential partnerships, Santana said. Because there is no building in Lodi similar to the current location, Santana said there is no way they can do what they had planned before.
“We were looking to do over 40,000 square feet of conference space indoors and we were looking to have about 25,000 square feet outdoors,” she said. “That’s not going to be possible or feasible based upon what’s existing in the market.”
Santana said Calturas is currently talking with other businesses in the Lodi community, mostly other wineries, to see how a partnership could benefit both parties.
“We’re looking at everything and exploring all our options,” Santana said.