A NEW BREW
Vanessa House brewery to open next year in downtown OKC
Entrepreneurship built on the stone pavers at Devon Energy Center and friendship at the University of Oklahoma is behind the latest brewery set to be built along Automobile Alley.
Vanessa House, 118 NW 8, is set to open in late 2018 as development continues to emerge along the eastwest streets between Midtown and Automobile Alley.
Redevelopment of the three buildings that include 118 NW 8 dates back to 2011 when Adam Fink started his stone business Elevated Paver Systems with a contract at Devon Energy Center.
“We needed a place to store of materials,” Fink said. “We found the space online and rented it. We were living in a camper so we moved it into the warehouse to be closer to the job.”
A few years later, Fink’s business is thriving and he has long since moved out of the camper and moved into a house with his family. Last year his landlord offered to sell him the warehouse, but with the caveat that he also had to purchase the two adjoining buildings to the west.
Fink went from tenant to owner of 19,000 square feet of warehouse space. His business fit comfortably into where it first opened, but he wanted to find a new tenant for the adjoining warehouses that were home to a Christmas decoration supply operation.
“We wanted to do something we thought might be cool,” Fink said.
Fink, however, admits he is a novice in real estate and development. His friends, however, spoke highly of Jonathan Dodson, a partner in Pivot Project which recent developed the Sunshine Cleaners warehouse into Stone Cloud Brewery at Classen Boulevard and NW 1 and also is developing Elk Valley Brewery at nearby NW 12 and Hudson.
“I think we had a similar definition of what we thought would be cool,” Fink said.
The Pivot Project agreed to act as a fee developer for Fink and signed up Gardner Architects and Lingo Construction, the team that built Stone Cloud Brewery. Lending, meanwhile, was set up with Amy Bailey at CrossFirst Bank.
‘They’re fun guys and they make a good beer’
A recommendation by Micah Andrews with Oak and Ore in the Plaza District led Dodson to the group of friends looking to open up their first brewery for their year-old Vanessa House Beer Co. Andrews told Dodson “They’re fun guys and they make a good beer.”
Andrew Carrales, Justin Wright, Zac Smith, Evan Smith and Nicholas White all were friends living on Vanessa Drive in Norman.
“We’ve always been beer drinkers and fans of craft beer,” Carrales said. “Seven years ago we got into the home brew game. We got together every Saturday. We brewed a lot of beer, more than we could drink, so we gave a lot of it away.”
With a strong response from their growing fan base, the five friends sought to turn the hobby into a business, creating recipes in a garage and brewing in Missouri.
Their first brand, 401K Cream Ale, tells how they got their start.
“That’s how we paid to get this thing rolling,” Carrales said. “We went all out.”
The beer was picked up by Oak and Ore, and with state law changing to be more favorable for breweries and tap rooms, the five were already looking for a permanent home when they were approached by Dodson.
Dodson saw a brewery and tap room as the most likely candidate to start development along a block that stretches between Hideaway Pizza at Broadway and OCU Law School at Robinson Avenue.
“Development has been coming this way with Barrios, the Hudson development, and to me it’s a perfect place,” Dodson said. “But there is no dedicated parking, so it’s not where you want to do a high-volume restaurant until the streetcar comes in. It’s perfect for a tap room, which typically gets busy at 5 p.m. when everything else around here starts to slow down.”
The guys at Vanessa House also shared the vision held by their new landlord — to have fun and bring life to NW 8.
“We want to bring our vibe to the tap room,” Carrales said. “We take our beer seriously but not ourselves too seriously. We want to create a place where people can hang out with friends, relax after a hard day and make it a cool place to come.”
OKLAHOMA BRIEFS Grow with Google tour is set Dec. 6
Google is bringing its Grow with Google tour to Oklahoma City.
The event aims to help job seekers, students, teachers, entrepreneurs and small business owners improve their digital skills, organizers said. The event includes the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership, the Chickasaw Nation, Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Mid-Del Technology Center, Metro Technology Center, Moore Norman Technology Center, Oklahoma 4-H, StarSpace46, Techlahoma and Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma as partners, they said.
The event, which will include more than 10 workshops and more than 50 one-on-one coaching sessions, will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Devon Boathouse, 725 S Lincoln Blvd. Topics will include job search strategies, presentation skills, search engine optimization, coding basics and more.
Visit g.co/GrowOKC to learn more about the event and to register.
Circle K drive helps ‘fuel’ local schools
Circle K will contribute funds from its fuel sales this year to help provide money to participating schools.
The fuel and convenience retailer kicked off its “Fueling Our Schools” campaign in Oklahoma City this week.
The campaign invites customers to buy fuel at a specially marked pump. Circle K said it intends to donate one-cent from the money paid for every gallon of fuel bought through the pump to support a participating local school in an amount of up to $2,000 per school.
On special Fuel Up Nights, Circle K stores will donate 10 cents from the money paid for each gallon of fuel sold at their stores to participating schools.
“Circle K is committed to serving the neighborhoods where we work and live,” said Jeff Burrell, vice president of global fuels. “This innovative fundraising program continues to expand every year, impacting and empowering even more students and schools along the way.”
Community events will also be held at select participating stores, including ones in Moore, west Oklahoma City and south Oklahoma City. Others area stores also likely are involved — look at your local store for campaign details.
Tax seminar’s focus is farmers, ranchers
ARDMORE — The Noble Research Institute will host a free tax seminar to provide farmers and ranchers in the southern Great Plains with the latest information they need to get ready for tax season.
“Managing Taxes for Agricultural Producers” will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Southern Oklahoma Technology Center, 2610 Sam Noble Parkway. The seminar will be led by Noble Research Institute agricultural economists and Doug Dean, a CPA.
Dean will provide information, tips and advice on new legislation, income and expense issues in agriculture, Section 1031, tax changes, and end-of-year planning strategies.
“Time spent learning about the various aspects of your tax bill is always time well spent,” said Dan Childs, agricultural economist. “This workshop will help provide producers with the knowledge to help them successfully navigate some of the finer details of the tax process.”
This event is offered at no charge, but preregistration at noble.org/events is required.