Long Road Distillers

Craft spirit maker begins distribution (Grand Rapids Business Journal)

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A local distillery has launched its Michigan distribution.

Long Road Distillers in Grand Rapids launched two of its spirits into statewide distribution this month.

The distillery’s gin and vodka are now available to all restaurants, bars and retailers in Michigan.

The distillery opened in May, and distribution is coming right about when co-owners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor expected in their timeline.

“We wanted to make sure we could meet demand here and work out our kinks,” O’Connor said. “A lot of times, distillers go into distribution and can’t satisfy demand. They get an initial launch and can’t provide more.”

Van Strien said one of the most common questions from a restaurant group is, “If we run a featured cocktail at our three locations, will we run out?”

Now, Van Strien said that assurance is possible and within the first week, The Winchester in Grand Rapids had a cocktail menu featuring spirits by Long Road Distillers.

Van Strien added that several other local businesses will carry its products: Donkey; Siciliano’s Market; Rishi’s International Beverage; and Essence Restaurant Group.

“To see some of the places we respect so much have our products . . . it’s a lot of fun,” Van Strien said.

O’Connor said they welcome restaurant and bars to bring in owners, managers and staff to show them the manufacturing process.

“We encourage other folks to reach out,” O’Connor said. “We love to host potential partners. We want to educate people on what makes our products different and what’s unique about it. The more people we talk through the process, the better.”

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Long Road Distillers

Craft spirits maker opens event space (Grand Rapids Business Journal)

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A local distillery has opened up an addition.

Long Road Distillers just opened its upstairs, The Rickhouse at Long Road, at 537 Leonard St. NW.

Event space

The space holds 160 people and is available for special events and general overflow on the weekends.

The space rents for $100 an hour for a three-hour minimum and a $500 food-and-drink minimum on weekends. The weekday rate is considerably cheaper, said Kyle Van Strien, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.

“We want people to use it, but we do anticipate to raise it as we see demand,” Van Strien said.

Cocktail classes

Long Road Distillers will use the space to host its first cocktail class next Tuesday.

The class is the first of many events Long Road expects to host in the space.

Cocktail classes will be an ongoing series for the distillery, said Jon O’Connor, co-founder, Long Road Distillers.

“There’s a heightened awareness in the country about cocktails, and it’s just starting to make its way to Grand Rapids,” O’Connor said. “We’re hoping to be a part of that transformation.”

While the first class will be a general overview of the history of distillation and cocktails, future classes will have a specific focus on different cocktails.

The class on Tuesday will be hands-on, as students will taste every aspect of the cocktails, from simple syrup and sugar to bitters and the spirits.

“This class will be history and structure, techniques,” Van Strien said. “We use many methods to craft cocktails and how to make better drinks at home. It will also require lots of tasting.”

Grand Rapids Business Journal, Pat Evans

Full Article

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Long Road Distillers

Long Road Distillery offers ‘bathtub gin’ kit as part of prohibition museum exhibit (Mlive.com)

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During the prohibition era, people used to distill their own liquor in their bathtubs.

Long Road Distillery, the recently opened craft distillery on Grand Rapids’ West Side, is offering an unusual way to remember that slice of American history.

In conjunction with the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s opening of the exhibit “American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” the distillery will release a “bathtub gin kit” featuring a bottle of Long Road vodka, botanicals for infusing, straining cloth, funnel, instruction card and commemorative bottle with specially designed label.

“Bathtub gin” was a phrase used in reference to any inexpensive, homemade liquor, not just gin.

Of course, distilling liquor at home is still illegal. Long Road features the first four legal stills ever in the city of Grand Rapids. The kit is designed to enhance the flavor of the vodka, the kit is also in the spirit – pun intended – of the 1920s era, when Americans used ingenuity to make their own alcoholic beverages, a trait in common with modern craft distilleries and breweries.

The kit is priced at $49.99 and for sale at the distillery, 537 Leonard St. NW, with $5 from each kit sold donated to the museum to support the exhibit.

“It’s a simple botanical blend included with the kit,” said Long Road co-owner Kyle Van Strien. “It’s not just going to cover up the flavor, because I think our vodka is exceptional. But it will enhance it, make it different and unique.”

The National Constitution Center’s exhibit, which opens Sept. 26, 2015 and runs through Jan. 17, 2016, will cover the temperance movement, the Roaring ’20s and the repeal of the constitutional amendment banning alcoholic beverages. More than 100 artifacts will be featured, including flapper dresses, prohibition propaganda, Al Capone’s guilty verdict and, of course, home equipment used to brew illegal beer and moonshine.

Related: Look back: Grand Rapids embraced both sides of Prohibition

Van Strien said the idea for the tie-in came when he attended a museum fundraiser for the exhibit, and inquired whether Long Road would feature the city’s first legal still. He and Long Road partner Jon O’Connor considered making a special sugar shine or corn whiskey in conjunction with the exhibit, similar to how Founders Brewing Co. created Furniture City Stock Ale for a museum beer exhibit in 2012. But they struggled to come up with a good, unique liquor, and faced time restraints in getting legal approval for a new formula and label.

So they decided to make the product interactive, and reusable. Van Strien said different botanical blends will be sold at the distillery, adding that people could go to the spice shop and use the kit to experiment with their own flavors.

“Honestly, it was easier for us to use an existing product, then have people do the alterations at home,” Van Strien said. “It’s a fun way to commemorate the period and it’s period-specific.”

Long Road opened in June 2015 and offers vodka, gin, whisky, apple brandy and more, made on-site. The distillery offers tours, cocktails and a farm-to-table food menu.

John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jserba@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

Full Article Here.

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Long Road Distillers

West side businesses throw block party (GR Business Journal)

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When Mitten Brewing Co. was getting started in 2011, owners Chris Andrus and Max Trierweiler were a bit apprehensive as they attended the West Grand Neighborhood Organization Christmas Party.

They meekly told then-executive director Nola Steketee they were the guys opening the brewery on Leonard Street.

“She gave us a big hug and cried about how happy she was,” Andrus said. “Ever since then, we felt like we belonged and we haven’t forgotten.”

Steketee stepped down earlier this year, and the city’s second largest neighborhood organization is trying to regain its footing under interim executive director Robert Tolbert. So this weekend, several Leonard Street businesses are coming together to throw the inaugural WGNO Block Party, led by the Mitten. All profits will head to WGNO.

There is a suggested donation of $5 for admission.

“The organization needs the help financially,” Andrus said. “This helps give them a fresh start and some operating funds so they can continue the programs they’ve provided the neighborhood.”

The block party will be held noon-8 p.m., Saturday, in the parking lots of the Mitten and Long Road Distillers, along with a portion of Quarry Street north of Leonard, between the two businesses.

Both the distillery and brewery will be open, while Two Scotts Barbecue— from across Leonard Street — will be closed and only serving at the block party.

Andrus said WGNO has supported the brewery countless times, so it’s time to repay that generosity.

“We couldn’t have done it without their support,” he said. “They came to planning meetings on our behalf and spoke up for us; they gave us assistance with the city when we needed it.”

Mercantile Bank, with its headquarters on Leonard Street, is the presenting sponsor, with several other businesses with a west side presence supporting, including 616 Development, Open Systems Technologies, Westside Garage, Ferris Coffee and Nut, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and Rockford Construction.

Music will be performed from 2-8 p.m., by bands such as JOE, AOK, The Legal Immigrants, Shane Tripp, Boot Strap Boys and DJ Vinyl Fetish.

“This is great timing for this party,” Andrus said. “We’ve got three businesses rolling and it’s a great excuse to get together on something, close down the street and have a party that will showcase the hot corner we have going on here.”

– Pat Evans, Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 27, 2015

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Long Road takes long view with trio of expansion plans (GR Business Journal)

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Distillery gains approval for full kitchen, rooftop deck and expanded production area.

The city’s first distillery has set its sights on some big expansion projects.

Long Road Distillers went in front of the Grand Rapids Planning Commission last week seeking approval for three projects, all of which gained unanimous approval.

The planned expansions include a full kitchen, a rooftop deck and an expanded production area.

Owners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor have recognized the need for expansion since prior to opening earlier this year but mulled the details for the past sixth months before heading to the city’s planning panel.

Van Strien, who is also a member of the planning commission, recused himself from the meeting.

“We knew the space we have would never be quite sufficient if everything went as we planned,” O’Connor said. “As we continue to grow after having our second still installed, it increased our potential capacity. And to fully optimize our equipment, expanding is necessitated.”

Enlargement of the production space is crucial if Long Road is to max out its capabilities and hit the distribution market it desires. Van Strien said he expects the distillery’s products to begin showing up on store and bar shelves within the next two months.

Current production space is cramped with equipment as well as with full and empty bottles, barrels, grain and fermenting liquid.

An addition would free up some elbowroom, Van Strien said.

Adding on to the back of the building would take up three of the business’s parking spots, but would double the footprint of the current production space with an additional 1,200 square feet.

“We’re hamstrung in how much we can do. It’s tight,” Van Strien said. “(An expansion) would enable us to store both finished and product in process, as well as potentially expand fermentation capabilities so we can fully optimize our equipment.”

Also in the works is a full kitchen. Currently, Long Road utilizes a partial kitchen to serve mostly small dishes. The owners said the kitchen is limited and restricts potential business during lunch and dinner times.

The proposed kitchen would be constructed in the back portion of a building at 539 Leonard St. NW, which also is owned by the distillery’s investment group and currently is occupied by Chicago Style Gyro. The gyro restaurant will stay in the building by consolidating its storage.

The project will add 1,200 square feet of kitchen space with cook-tops, hoods, walk-in coolers, dry storage and a dish-washing area.

A proposed rooftop deck will seat 60 people and have limited hours, O’Connor said. In the proposal, Long Road notes the deck is in line with recent projects by neighbors Mitten Brewing Co. and Two Scotts Barbecue.

Long Road expects its upstairs overflow seating area and event space to be finished by the start of ArtPrize next month and likely will host live music during the annual art competition.

O’Connor said because of the business’s alcohol use, any change must go in front of the planning commission. Instead of getting the projects approved one at a time, they sought to move them all through at once.

Van Strien said the projects will cost “a lot of money,” but the exact amount is an unknown at this point. He also said the projects aren’t imminent, and this is just a proactive move on the company’s part. The expansions will not be concurrent, and the first one won’t start until next spring. O’Connor said that’s because most West Michigan contractors are booked through the end of the year.

“Rather than go back multiple times, we thought we’d get it all done at once so, as funds become available, we can do them,” he said.

– Pat Evans, Grand Rapids Business Journal, August 14, 2015

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Long Road Distillers

Two months after opening, Long Road Distillers seeks to double production space (MiBiz)

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While Long Road Distillers LLC just opened a little more than two months ago, the maker of craft spirits already plans to expand in Grand Rapids’ west side neighborhood.

The company will go before the Grand Rapids Planning Commission on Thursday, Aug. 13 with a special land use request to add 1,200 square feet to double its production space at 537 Leonard St. NW, as well as expand its kitchen.

For the craft distillery, the added production space will help it make the transition into producing enough product to start distributing its spirits, said co-founder Kyle Van Strien.

“This is making sure we’re satisfying the needs we have now and in the near future for production,” he said. “We just continue to grow. We’re going to two shifts (this) week for our production team just to meet demand. We’ve met demand from the front of the house … but as we go to distribution in a month and a half, we need to have enough room.

“With the amount of storage that we have and our production space, it can get tight. We hope to alleviate some of the strain on our production team.”

Demand from Long Road’s pub thus far has “exceeded our expectations,” Van Strien said. While the company expected to use 70,000 to 80,000 pounds of wheat in its first year as part of the distilling process, it used that much in its first three months of production.

“We’ve seen the demand in the front of the house,” he said. “To this point, we’ve been producing to meet demand, not for the long-term.”

The company has added fermenters to help the production crew keep up, and the second shift should also make a difference, Van Strien said.

The company plans to launch distribution with three spirits in the next month and a half.

“We probably could have had the supply to go into distribution this month or last month, but we don’t want to limp into this. We want to run full-steam into this distribution thing,” Van Strien said.

Long Road is also asking the city to allow it to add a rooftop deck to the neighboring building at 539 Leonard St. NW. The affiliated River Bed Investors LLC owns both buildings, according to county records.

Meanwhile, more kitchen space will allow the distillery to grow its food offerings and offer a “cohesive” menu, Van Strien said.

“Our menu is focused and great, but we want to become a place people go for dinner and an appetizer,” he said. “With an expanded kitchen, we can really blow up our menu with a full line of great food.”

As for the theme of the expanded menu, “we’re still coming up with what that might be,” Van Strien added. “We want it to be cohesive and fit with our cocktail program.”

The added kitchen capacity also will allow Long Road to use its soon-to-be-completed upstairs space for events and other special uses, he said. Adding the upstairs and the rooftop deck will expand the capacity to around 260 people, Van Strien said.

Long Road’s current street-level space seats 80 people.

The Grand Rapids-based distillery’s expansion comes during a period of explosive growth for spirits producers. The number of small distillers grew from 92 in 2010 to more than 700 last year, according to data from the Distilled Spirits Council.

The Michigan Craft Distillers Association said nearly 40 distilleries were in operation in the state as of last year, enough for the state to rank third in the nation for the number of producers.

– Joe Boomgaard, MiBiz, August 9, 2015

Full Story Here.

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Long Road Distillers

ArtPrize 2015 welcomes distillery, sporting goods store to 7th annual event (MLIVE.com)

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ArtPrize 2015’s new venues include a distillery, a sporting goods store and a new public space.

A total of 180 venues have signed up to participate in the seventh annual exhibition in Grand Rapids.

Some 30 first-time venues will be a part of the $500,000 competition opening Sept. 23 for the 19-day exhibition.

A total of 177 venues were on board following the close of venue registration Friday, but three more have been approved following mandatory site inspections.

“There weren’t really any surprises,” said Jaenell Ott, public relations manager for ArtPrize. “Venues that didn’t return were predominately restaurants or businesses that no longer have a downtown location.”

ArtPrize 2014 featured art in 174 restaurants, office buildings and public spaces last fall.

New venues participating for the first time in ArtPrize 2015 include Reynolds & Sons Sporting Goods, which will use its second-floor window at 12 Monroe Center to showcase art in the heart of downtown.

Long Road Distillers, a craft distillery, is located in a late 19th century building at 537 Leonard St. NW that originally was a dry goods store when it opened in the 1880s.

Lyon Square, a public space between the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and DeVos Place convention center, overlooking the Grand River, has been a well-traveled space among ArtPrize viewers since the inaugural event in 2009. In the past, it’s been a part of the Amway Grand Plaza venue. But Lyon Square will be a venue in its own right for the first time in 2015.

Three venues that weren’t a part of ArtPrize 2014, but were past participants, have returned. The three are Speak EZ, Ledyard Building and Heartside Park.

All venues are located within a 3-square mile area of downtown Grand Rapids except for Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park and SiTE:LAB’s Rumsey Street project between Grandville Avenue and Century Drive.

Though 180 venues are signed up to participate, each venue must secure at least one artist’s entry in order to be a part of the event. Last year, a total of 194 venues signed up to participate but 20 had to drop out at the end of the Connections period to match artists and venues.

Artist Registration opens April 20 and continues to June 4.

Connections opens April 28 and ends June 18.

ArtPrize is shaping up to be similar in size to the past four events. The last four years have ranged from 161 venues in 2012 to 174 last year.

The inaugural ArtPrize in 2009 was the smallest with 159. The second ArtPrize in 2010 had the most with 192.

Mlive.com – Full Story.

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, April 13, 2015

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Long Road Distillers

Learn the craft or hire for experience? West Michigan craft distilleries take two paths to ramp up production (MiBiz)

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When the founders of Long Road Distillers LLC decided to bring in an experienced professional to manage the launch of its spirits production later this year, they realized they needed to look beyond the local talent pool for help.

That realization led partners Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor to recruit Brian Pribyl as the startup’s first head distiller. While the two partners did their homework before starting the company, they felt leveraging the knowledge of an experienced industry professional would give Long Road a competitive edge.

“Kyle and I worked with others in the industry to mentor us along with learning the trade, but we knew that at the end of the day, the real way for us to be successful was to have a real expert in-house that has the knowledge and the skill set that can make us the best,” O’Connor told MiBiz.

Ironically, it wasn’t West Michigan’s nascent craft distilling industry that drew Pribyl to the area; credit the region’s other craft beverage scene for that.

“I fell in love with the beer,” Pribyl said.

Instead of being competitors in the alcoholic beverage space, Pribyl sees craft brewing and craft distilling as complementary sectors, with both industries satisfying customers’ demand for locally sourced products.

“There’s a lot of tradition behind distilling, and it’s one more step for brewing, especially for the city of Grand Rapids,” he said. “It’s a natural progression.”

Apprentice to the trade

While the craft brewing industry is filled with home brewers who turned a hobby into a profession, federal laws against moonshining make that career path illegal for craft distilleries, which makes it more difficult to find and develop talent, Van Strien said.

That leaves startups like Long Road with the choice either to hire experienced outside help or to learn the craft under the tutelage of others distillers.

Walter Catton, owner and head distiller at the Holland-based Coppercraft Distillery LLC, opted for the latter route.

After learning the business side of the industry in his career as a CPA and as a former partner and CFO of New Holland Brewing Co. which also makes a line of spirits, he spent weeks gathering insight into the trade from other established craft distillers, including Colorado-based Breckenridge Distillery and Smooth Ambler Spirits Co. of West Virginia.

“I spent two and a half years putting this together, and a year and half of that was the learning, dialing recipes in and proving out everything else,” Catton said. “I spent time with distillers learning to do everything from priming a pump to alcohol proofing.”

Tapping industry veterans

While Van Strien and O’Connor also spent time consulting others in the industry, they wanted experienced help with the intricacies of distilling. The partners plan to work closely with Pribyl throughout the distilling process to develop the spirits, but they’re relying on his expertise to craft a quality product.

“You can make or break a batch by even going five minutes too fast,” Pribyl said. “It’s very precise.”

Pribyl started his career a decade ago and began working at Newport, Ore.-based Rogue Ales & Spirits after attending Oregon State University’s fermentation science program. While in Oregon, Pribyl helped the Rogue distillery navigate an expansion and worked on the company’s Dead Guy Whiskey along with several gins and vodkas, including the launch of a chipotle spirit.

For the last two years, Pribyl has worked in Tennessee, where he helped two distilleries get off the ground and expand. He helped launch Popcorn Sutton Distilling LLC’s Tennessee White Whisky brand, nearly doubling its capacity. After Popcorn Sutton, Pribyl moved to Prichard’s Distillery Inc. to help the company establish a satellite operation in Fontanel, Tenn.

All of Pribyl’s experience with startup operations and expansions made him an ideal candidate for what Long Road is trying to accomplish in West Michigan, O’Connor said.

Both Coppercraft and Long Road are among the latest wave of industry growth that should swell the ranks of craft distillers nationally to around 500 by 2015, according to the American Craft Spirits Association.

The small but growing sector in Michigan of around two dozen companies ranks fourth nationally behind California, Oregon and Washington in the number of distilleries, according to the Michigan Craft Distillers Association, a new nonprofit that launched this month to market the statewide industry and serve as a voice for members in Lansing.

Grain-to-glass

Long Road has yet to distill its first batch as it’s currently renovating its facility and awaiting installation of a 500-liter, 18-plate still that it ordered from the German-based manufacturer Müller GmbH. The still should arrive in Grand Rapids within the next three weeks, Van Strien said.

The distillery will have an annual production capacity of approximately 7,000 cases once it becomes fully operational, O’Connor said.

“As soon as the equipment is in place, my goal is to get everything fired up and a vodka out of the door by day 12,” Pribyl said.

The company plans to immediately follow its vodka with varieties of gins and white whiskeys until the distillery begins the aging process for its bourbons and other spirits, a process that takes between two and five years, Pribyl said.

Long Road invested approximately $750,000 into its facility at 537 Leonard Street NW on Grand Rapids’ west side, as MiBiz previously reported. The company enlisted Grand Rapids-based Willink Construction Inc. as the contractor for the project, which was designed by The Design Forum Inc.

The distillery plans to adhere to a true “grain-to-glass” philosophy, incorporating as many local grains and fruits into its products as possible, Van Strien said. Initially, the distillery will only sell spirits out of its tasting room, but it plans to begin statewide distribution by late 2015.

With the global market for craft spirits on the rise, the Grand Rapids distillery aims to be in every state and have a presence in international markets in five years, Van Strien said.

“It might sound crazy, but I don’t think it’s all that far out of the question,” Van Strien said. “I think we can achieve that. The fact that we are doing this right is what sets us apart.”

MiBiz – Full Article

John Wiegand, November 23, 2014

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Long Road Distillers

New developments breathe life into GR’s west side neighborhood (MiBiz)

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As new developments spring up throughout Grand Rapids’ west side neighborhood, the district is at the center of a concerted effort by a range of business interests looking to revitalize a long-neglected part of the city.

Companies ranging from new breweries and restaurants to upscale retail stores and residential developers have invested tens of millions in this first wave of the west side’s turnaround. Developers say they hope the investment will act as a catalyst for urban renewal in the key Grand Rapids neighborhood.

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed by the area’s existing business owners and neighborhood groups. While most believe the investments will ultimately tip the scales in favor of the area’s renewal, some feel like key community cohorts should have a better voice in which projects move forward.

Starting at the Grand River and stretching west past Stocking Avenue, the Bridge Street corridor is starting to resemble the neighborhood some long-time residents recall from their formative years in the area.

“Bridge Street doesn’t need to be redefined,” said Walt Gutowski, a Grand Rapids city commissioner, business owner and self-appointed “ambassador” of the west side. “It just needs to be restored.”

A native of the neighborhood, Gutowski owns Swift Printing Co. at 404 Bridge Street NW. The restoration of that building in 2000 helped accelerate redevelopment along the corridor, he said.

As more projects come online, Bridge Street is starting to follow a similar pattern to development in the Wealthy Street and Cherry Street corridors in the mid-2000s, sources said.

The west side developments promise to add new selections to the mix of neighborhood businesses, which had waned in recent decades. For example, Black Heron Kitchen and Bar plans to offer Michigan craft beer and wine and upscale sausages when it opens early next year at 428 Bridge Street in a building owned by Gutowski. Meanwhile, Denym LLC, a high-end jeans retailer, opened earlier this year at nearby 443 Bridge Street.

Having grown up in the area, Gutowski recalls how years ago, residents had options for shopping and dining all along the corridor. Bringing back that neighborhood feel has been a long-time goal, Gutowski said, noting his projects and other developers’ plans all play a part in the renewal.

County records show that Gutowski owns about 20 properties along the corridor.

“(The redevelopment) is a real passion for me, as both a city commissioner and business owner,” Gutowski said.

BANKING ON BEER

While Gutowski is predominantly focused on the main Bridge Street artery, other developers are launching projects all over the city’s west side.

In opening The Mitten Brewing Company LLC in November 2012, Max Trierweiler said he was drawn to the area by the amount of traffic that Leonard Street receives. Co-owner Trierweiler and business partner Chris Andrus thought a microbrewery could act as an anchor attraction to help make the stretch of Leonard Street a more walkable corridor where people would come down to eat, drink and shop for an afternoon.

Now Mitten Brewing is expanding its operations with on-site outdoor seating, upstairs dining and a separate production facility kitty-corner from its pub. Soon to join Mitten on the West Leonard corridor is Long Road Distillers LLC, located across the street at 537 Leonard NW. Meanwhile, construction is currently underway for Two Scotts LLC, a new barbecue restaurant at 536 Leonard NW.

“We saw the area needed a pick up,” Trierweiler said of their decision to open a business on the west side two years ago. “It helped that we would be the only brewery in the area.”

He won’t be able to say that for much longer, however, as two new breweries are planned a few blocks south in the Bridge Street corridor, with one already under construction.

In an announcement in early October, Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction Co. said it would redevelop parcels along Bridge Street NW for a new development anchored by New Holland Brewing Company LLC. The project will include a New Holland taproom, restaurant and brewery, as well as ground-floor retail, office space and 35 apartments, as MiBiz reported last month.

The upscale development will take the place of a blighted building that once housed an adult novelty and lingerie store.

Just to the west of the New Holland development at the corner of Bridge Street and Stocking Avenue, work remains underway for Harmony Hall. The project is breathing new life into the building that formerly housed the Little Mexico restaurant, which closed in March 2013. The new business — a brewpub with a sausage-themed restaurant — is being led by the principals of property management firm Bear Manor Properties LLC, who also own Harmony Brewing Company in the city’s Eastown neighborhood.

Meanwhile, the Fulton Street corridor, another key east-west artery through the west side district, has also seen projects come online in recent years. Anchored in large part by Grand Valley State University’s Pew Campus and the Seidman College of Business along the Grand River, the corridor has seen the recent addition of a Tim Hortons drive-thru restaurant and a satellite Rylee’s Ace Hardware Inc. store on the far west end of the stretch near John Ball Park.

ADDING NEW HOUSING STOCK

Development in the area isn’t only limited to retail or new service-related businesses, either. New housing projects are popping up to meet growing demand in the neighborhood.

For example, Rockford Construction Co. in July opened an 18-unit apartment complex at 600 Douglas NW.

The goal for 600 Douglas was to make 450-square-foot apartments feel more like 700- or 800-square-foot units, said Bruce Thompson, vice president at Rockford Ventures LLC, one of the contractor’s subsidiaries. To accomplish the project’s vision, Rockford worked with Urbaneer LLC to install its line of movable walls in the apartments, which allow tenants to easily change the layout of the space.

Urbaneer, a design firm, is a part of Rockford’s First Street Initiative, in which the contractor aims to partner with smaller firms around the concepts of “building, design and construction,” Thompson said. The partner companies that make up the First Street Initiative are independent businesses that work with Rockford on certain projects, Thompson added.

“Each of them brings something different to the mix,” Thompson said. “It is really starting to have the feel of a campus down here, and that’s a little of what we want with this First Street concept. We want to bring companies that are innovative … and firms that are complementary to us, but we are also able to leverage some of the infrastructure that we have.”

Altogether, there are seven companies involved in the First Street Initiative including Insignia Homes, enCO2, Signature Wall Solutions, Johnson Product Development, Brenda Thompson Interiors, Trovati Studio and Urbaneer.

Perhaps the most visible developer working on the west side after moving its corporate headquarters to the corner of First Street and Seward Avenue last year, Rockford has also been buying up large amounts of neighborhood property through its development arm for its so-called Gateway Project.

Property records show that Kurt Hassberger, Rockford’s president and chairman of the board, is listed on more than a dozen properties in the area that are owned under a variety of related business entities.

The company’s efforts in the neighborhood are no coincidence. Rockford CEO Mike VanGessel, much like Gutowski, is a west side native. Gutowski told MiBiz that the two are old friends and have been talking for more than a decade about how to go about redeveloping the area.

VanGessel was unavailable for comment for this story, according to a Rockford spokesperson.

CONCERNS REMAIN FOR SOME

While most reactions to the developments on the west side have remained positive, certain residential projects have raised concern from neighborhood associations, particularly over the issue of density.

Approved in July by the City Commission, Grand Rapids-based developer Cherry Street Capital LLC has plans to break ground next spring on a $12.9 million project with 63 apartments, commercial space and underground parking at the corner of Lake Michigan Drive and Seward Avenue.

Despite gaining city approval and receiving support by many in the neighborhood, the project was initially called into question by the South West Area Neighbors (SWAN), a west side neighborhood association.

“When (a development) doesn’t comply with our Area Specific Plan, then we have concern,” said Margo Johnson, president of SWAN. “We have a neighborhood that has been desirable and developers need to (understand) the desires of the current neighbors.”

Specifically, Johnson told MiBiz the organization’s concern with Cherry Street Capital’s plans stemmed from the project including too much density for the area it will eventually be built on, something that goes against the city’s plan for the neighborhood.

Despite those concerns, the project is moving forward, according to the developer.

“There was some resistance, but a lot of people spoke for the project, and I think that’s what got it across the line,” said Chad Barton, a partner at Cherry Street Capital.

Speaking broadly about the ongoing redevelopment of the west side, Johnson from SWAN said her organization also expresses concern when developers aren’t perceived as including the thoughts and opinions of existing residents.

In that regard, SWAN isn’t alone.

Bridge Street House of Prayer, a community ministry located at 1055 Bridge Street NW, works with much of the “marginalized” population in the neighborhood, said Andrew Sisson, the community development director at the organization. There is a perception from some of the existing residents in the neighborhood that developers aren’t interested in listening to the broader community, he said.

“Overall, there’s not too much of a negative perception of (new development),” Sisson said. “(For) people who are in this neighborhood currently, if their thoughts, ideas and culture are taken into consideration, if they see their opinions are being implemented, they’re OK with it and they’re excited about it.”

As more development takes shape in the neighborhood, property costs have already started becoming an issue for some business owners.

Fred Mackraz, the co-owner of the recently opened Blue Dog Tavern at 638 Stocking Avenue NW, the site of the former Kopper Top bar and restaurant, said he sees a lot of momentum in the area for positive, urban development. Indeed, the goal behind his new project was to help create a traditional bar and grill for the neighborhood.

But he’s concerned that as development ramps up, there are property owners in the area trying to hold on to their buildings in an attempt to drive up the values.

“Some people have property that is ripe for redevelopment and are hoping they will get prices that are not reasonable,” Mackraz said. “The old businesses that are here should view (new development) as a positive thing.”

MiBiz – Full Article

Nick Manes, November 9, 2014

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Long Road Distillers

Name Drop in the New York Times

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A Rebound Takes Root in Michigan, but Voters’ Gloom Is Hard to Shake (New York Times)

Another blustery Midwestern winter approaches, but along a blue-collar stretch of Leonard Street in this conservative, famously button-down city, an economic springtime has arrived.

The Mitten Brewing Company, less than three years old, has grown to 40 employees from 10, and is expanding across the street with gleaming new fermentation tanks. Next door, Kyle Van Strien and Jon O’Connor have gutted an 1890s dry-goods store to build Long Road Distillers. Down the block, A-1 Small Engine Repair is stirring with traffic at last, said Randy Wodarek, a co-owner, after years of “a lot of peanut butter and jelly, for sure.”

Yet the economic recovery taking root in Michigan — among the states hit hardest by the 2008 recession — has not translated into an improved political environment for officials in either party. Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican and a computer executive who was elected four years ago as an economic Mr. Fix-It, is neck-and-neck with his Democratic challenger. Representative Gary Peters, the Detroit-area Democrat who was handpicked to succeed Senator Carl Levin, who is retiring, is struggling to maintain a lead over his Republican opponent.

The growing set of up arrows among many economic indicators has proved to be more of an abstraction to voters struggling to get by.

Jared Bernstein, a former Obama administration economist now with the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said economic growth was up 12 percent since the recession’s end, stock prices had doubled and corporate profits were up nearly 50 percent. But median household income, adjusted for inflation, is down 3 percent. Incomes have just started ticking up, but that is because people are working longer hours, not because of rising wages.

“A lot of political scientists will tell you it’s the trend that matters,” Mr. Bernstein said. “People can take a whole lot of whacking around as long as they feel things are improving. But that’s not how it’s playing out.”

Even as employers in Michigan have added 310,000 jobs and unemployment has dropped to 7.5 percent from 14.2 percent — the best improvement in the country since the recession — voters here seem to view the glass as half empty, largely because of stagnant wages, rising living costs and diminished opportunities.

“I’ll tell you why,” said Jim Chase, a local Teamsters union organizer, over beer and pizza at the Mitten. “Because most of those jobs don’t pay nothing.”

The number of unemployed in Michigan, 357,408, is down from 686,199 in August 2009, and back to the level of March 2008. But people dropping out of the work force account for some of that change. Today, 4.4 million Michiganders have jobs, up from 4.1 million in December 2009, but that number trails the 4.7 million who had jobs in the state in February 2006.

Manufacturing has come back, with payrolls rising to 567,900 this June from 440,600 in June 2009, bringing manufacturing payrolls back to July 2008 levels, but short of the peak of 906,900 in September 1999.

The auto industry has revived, owing largely to the bailout that President Obama pushed and Republicans opposed. But a leaner, more efficient Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — may never employ as many in the state as they once did, Mr. Peters said, nor will their suppliers.

“My gut tells me things are getting better,” said Bobby J. Hopewell, the mayor of nearby Kalamazoo, “but there are just too many people out of work.”

For more affluent business owners and executives, robust profits have meant rapidly rising wealth — and some disbelief at all the grumbling.

“People are very negative,” said Heather Johnson of Comstock Park, just north of Grand Rapids, a Republican whose husband’s industrial vacuum equipment business has been “blessed” with recent good fortune. “No matter how good people are doing, they find the few things that are wrong.”

On the lower end, the worst of the desperation has subsided, helped in part by government action. Barbara Grinwis, 63, executive director of Oasis of Hope, a free health clinic on Leonard Street, spends much of her time signing up patients for Michigan’s insurance exchange or expanded Medicaid under the president’s health care law. The clinic opened in 2007, and “I remember the first three or four years, seeing people at the end of the exam tables weeping, saying: ‘I’ve lost everything, my house, my job, my wife. I never dreamed I’d be in a free clinic,’ ” she recalled. “I’m not hearing that anymore.”

For the vast middle, however, there is a pervasive gloom. Incomes have stagnated. Many Americans have given up trying to find work.

“My generation is trying to figure out how to buy a house, how to afford that second child. We’re not feeling it,” said Jon Hoadley, a 31-year-old running as a Democrat for state representative in Kalamazoo.

“If you would’ve asked me several months ago, I would have expected both the governor and Congressman Peters to be further ahead,” said Douglas B. Roberts, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re an R or a D. We’re just fed up.”

That sentiment is playing into races that will ultimately determine control of the Senate in November. A Pew Research Center survey conducted last month found that people’s assessment of the availability of jobs had improved, but 56 percent said their family’s incomes were falling behind living costs — about where that sentiment was in 2008 — and 45 percent said they had experienced financial hardships like layoffs, inability to pay health care bills, or run-ins with debt-collection agents over the past year.

In Arkansas, where Senator Mark Pryor, a Democrat, has lost a once-healthy lead over Representative Tom Cotton, his Republican challenger, the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2 percent from a 2011 peak of 8.1 percent. But the number of employed Arkansans, 1.2 million, is lower than at any point in the recession and recovery.

Republican governors struggling to be re-elected in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia are facing the same economic headwinds, regardless of their party.

A George Washington University poll conducted last month found the economy to be the top issue on voters’ minds, with 71 percent saying their personal economic situation was either the same or worse than four years ago.

To Jason Spaulding, co-owner of the thriving Brewery Vivant on the fancier side of Grand Rapids, the pessimism is baffling. Four years ago he took over a funeral home, kept the stained glass of the chapel for his restaurant and set up brewing equipment in stables that once housed horse-drawn hearses.

Business has exceeded expectations. He expects to hit 5,000 barrels a year soon, and spends evenings arguing with relatives that the state owes much to Mr. Obama — to little avail.

“No one wants to give credit for doing good. They just want to talk about the bad,” he said, after a private chat with Mr. Peters. “But slowly things are getting better.”

New York Times – Full Story

Jonathan Weisman, September 12, 2014

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