Our future home: 511 SE Court Ave
/I want everyone to provide full disclosure on the building at 511 SE Court Ave. I must have driven by it thousands of times during my time in Pendleton and to be honest I didn't like it. I did not like the motif and the painted plywood panels attached to the brick. The sign was flaking and showed the ghosts of business past on several different layers of paint.
The future home of Oregon Grain Growers Brand Distillery at the beginning.
We had spent a good amount of time looking at locations that met our requirements. Here are some for example:
- Concrete Floors
- Floor Drains
- Good location for retail sales
- Open floor plan
- Near downtown Pendleton
- Fire suppression
- Secure location for barrel storage
- Building with some history
A lot of the buildings in Pendleton do not meet the requirements listed above as they are older buildings with wood floors and attached to more than one structure. We were starting to fear that we would not find a building where we could produce, store, and sell our products. We pressed on thinking we could possibly produce spirits in a separate location and have a tasting room down on main street as an alternative. I was worried that it would make the overall experience feel disjointed. Feeling defeated we pressed on.
My wife Kelli deserves credit for coaxing me into giving the 511 building a try. I'm very thankful I listened to her (I should do that more as she is very intelligent and has great thoughts and ideas) as this building is everything we wanted and more. As the Comries were walking us through glorious concrete floored rooms, I did my best to not show any positive emotion as I worried it would increase the asking price of the building. I could not believe I was standing inside a diamond in the rough. It was perfectly set up to be a Craft Distillery. Great discoverability, space for tasting and retail, concrete floors and ample drains, a huge basement for barrel storage, and large doors for access. How in thee hell did I miss this? We are going to do our best to secure this location. Here are some photos of when we first walked through the building.
