Firehouse to become brewpubHook & Ladder beer company to open restaurant in old fire station
Hook & Ladder Brewing Company, founded by Montgomery County volunteer firefighter Rich Fleischer and his brother Matt Fleischer in 1999, distributes beer to more than 130 establishments in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Frederick and Richmond metropolitan areas. The brothers initially launched the company in California, then brought it back to Silver Spring. This will be the company’s first full-service pub, said Matt Fleischer, president and chief executive officer of the company. Hook & Ladder has a distribution location on Brookville Road. Local businesses like Mayorga Coffee Factory, Ceviche, Quarry House and Ray’s The Classics carry Hook & Ladder beer. ‘‘It was a perfect fit for us,” said Fleischer, 31, a Wheaton resident. ‘‘... It’s not every day a fire house comes up for sale.” The purchase should be finalized in May 2007, and the brothers are interviewing partners to operate the restaurant. The restaurant is expected to open in spring 2008. Chief Roger A. McGary of the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department is excited to see the sale completed. The volunteer fire department sold its 100-year-old station, located at 8131 Georgia Ave., after the county constructed a new facility across the street. The building went on the market in July. The fire department sought a minimum bid of $2.5 million; Fleischer did not say how much Hook & Ladder is paying. The money will go toward a new ladder truck for the department, McGary said. ‘‘That’s the big item right now.” Hook & Ladder wants to maintain the feel of the fire station, and incorporate memorabilia from the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department in its décor, Fleischer said. He also would like to incorporate tales of firefighters’ heroics, particularly since his brother volunteers with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. ‘‘It’ll be nice. It’ll be good to keep it [like a firehouse],” McGary said. There is ample room in the building for kitchen space. The two-level station is about 6,000 square feet and the building sits on a 7,500-square-foot lot. ‘‘We want to maintain as much of the facade of the building as we can,” Fleischer said. Hook & Ladder’s presence will help liven up the Georgia Avenue corridor and help connect the redeveloped area of the downtown with other parts of Silver Spring, said Jane Redicker, president of the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. It will be the first brewpub in Silver Spring. Others, like Rock Bottom Brewery, Summit Station Restaurant and Brewery and Dogfish Head Alehouse, are located in Bethesda and Gaithersburg. ‘‘Any business that becomes a destination business is only going to do well in the downtown,” Redicker said. The Silver Spring Historical Society supports the reuse of the building, said Jerry McCoy, the society’s president. The building’s new owners have been open to preserving the historic structure, he said. The station is on the county’s Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Places, which provides buildings designated as historic some protection from demolition, McCoy said. ‘‘I think it’s going to be a wonderful adaptive reuse of the building,” he said. The society is also excited about helping to provide old photos to be displayed at the station. ‘‘We have lots of images,” he said. ‘‘Unfortunately, we don’t have any 3-D objects.” Hook & Ladder and its distributors also donate a portion of proceeds from sales to charities, including D.C. Burn Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aids in the recovery of injured firefighters and burn victims.
|
Top JobsSearch DirectoriesResources |