First sold in 1899, Peterborough’s historic G.A.R. Hall is being sold once more.
The Grove Street landmark will be purchased by Erica Rosenfield and Jeff Odland for the purpose of turning it into a brewery and taphouse. They anticipate being able to open for Memorial Day 2017.
Rosenfeld spoke at Peterborough’s Select Board meeting in the town office on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
“We’re really excited to have such an amazing building in such an amazing town,” she said. “Peterborough has always been our goal.”
The Mont Vernon couple is buying the property through their company, Post and Beam Brewery LLC. The most recent draft for the sale is for $172,000, according to Town Administrator Rodney Bartlett.
The sale comes at the end of a process that has lasted roughly three years, in which Peterborough businessmen Stan Fry and Cy Gregg expressed interest in developing it.
“Over the past couple of years, they were not happy with what they found as options,” Bartlett said.
Rosenfeld is very happy with it. Odland has been homebrewing as a hobbyist for about 10 years, but this will be his first commercial venture. He says he is the beer, and Rosenfeld is the brains.
“We love that building, we love its past,” she said. “We just want to get as much of the community involved as possible.”
They hope to make 80 percent of their first-year sales from the in-house taproom in order to get people in the door and build recognition in the region, and will also distribute to local restaurants.
Rosenfeld said that tying their product into the community is a priority, and that the brewery will partner with farms to make local-ingredient specialty beers, and try to incorporate the G.A.R. Hall’s facade into the logo. She also said they plan on producing an “Our Town IPA.”
Members of the Select Board loved the idea, saying it aligned well with the towns other plans and goals. The timing corresponds well with an incoming parking lot and pedestrian-space improvements coming to the downtown region.
“The EDA has been working on how to bring young people to town and I think it’s things like this,” Select Board Member Barbara Miller said.
Miller added, half-jokingly, “We’re looking forward to having Nashua Community College coming in, and I just think its perfect: college and beer.”
There remains work to be done in order for Post and Beam Brewery to be ready for the projected opening date.
Rosenfeld said that there will be a construction period of about three months to ready the 19th-century building. Not only does it need to be outfitted for brewing equipment and laid out for in-house service, but it needs electrical improvements and to be brought up to modern Americans with Disabilities Act code standards.
Because this is their first commercial venture, Bartlett says they will begin the process of getting a license to sell alcohol once the sale closes and they have a firm mailing address.
“There are a lot of moving parts, working parts in this,” Rosenfeld said. “I think it’s going to be a great fit.”
Brandon Latham can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 228 or blatham@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @blathamMLT.