New microbrewery planned for Hamilton at former electric substation near downtown
A new microbrewery that will be called Amp House Brewing plans to move into a former Hamilton electric substation on Maple Avenue. Its owners hope to further energize Hamilton’s entertainment scene beginning in early 2022, to coincide with the opening of Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill.
“This is so perfect,” Greg Snow, of Fairfield, one of three co-owners, said about the building at 514 Maple Ave. “It looks like Batman could live there. And inside, it’s so cool. It’s got super-thick concrete walls.”
The interior, saluting the building’s past, will have electric themes. Its name, Amp, is short for ampere, a unit of electrical current.
New bourbon bar coming to Hamilton with Prohibition theme: 5 things to know
Nicci Meece, whose father once owned an Irish/German pub at 2nd and Chestnut streets a few decades ago, is creating a bar herself at 221 S. B Street to be called Nic & Norm’s Sidecar Bar, and will have a Prohibition theme.
Meece, who moved to Butler County at age 15 and graduated from Talawanda High School in 1992, is a building rehabber who had been looking for a good site for the restaurant for a couple of years.
Developer wants to restore historic Hamilton mill with apartments, retail space
Developer Bloomfield/Schon wants to restore the historic Shuler & Benninghofen Woolen Mill in Hamilton’s Lindenwald neighborhoods, to outfit it with apartments and retail space.
Under details City Manager Joshua Smith provided Hamilton City Council on Wednesday, the project would include a $20 million investment from the developer in the 127-year-old facility. The project would include 100 “1+ bedroom apartments,” at least 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 50 indoor parking spaces.
The developer wants the city to buy the property for $650,000 and hold it while Bloomfield/Schon seeks national and state historic tax credits and a new type of incentive called Transformational Mixed Use Development Credits. If the developer lands those credits, the city would sell the property to the developer for $1. Smith in a report to council said the project would improve what now is a four-acre eyesore in a key Lindenwald area.
He started making cakes at 12. Now he’ll have his own business in Hamilton
A decade after he sold his first custom-designed cakes at age 12, Luke Heizer is taking his business to a storefront on Hamilton’s High Street.
Heizer, who grew up in Trenton and is a 2017 Edgewood High School graduate, began his cake-designing with cakes depicting Ironman and Dora the Explorer.
Heizer’s father, Alan, is helping build out the interior of the former True West Coffee shop on High Street. The other True West, on Main Street, remains open. Heizer’s mother, Tammie, does most of the cake-baking, and he does the decorating of cupcakes and cakes that can be very elaborate.
New Hamilton building owners plan beach-themed tiki bar, entertainment center on Great Miami River
New owners of the former Knights of Columbus building on the west bank of the Great Miami River are planning an indoor/outdoor multi-purpose entertainment complex that will embrace the waterway.
The combined facility, called Hamilton Landing, will open in three phases on about 2½ acres of riverfront at 930 Pyramid Hill Blvd.
First will be a large “beach-themed tiki bar” along the riverbank that can seat about 200, which the owners hope will open in the early summer, depending on when liquor licenses are approved. Events may happen even earlier.
What to expect from the Agave & Rye restaurant coming to Hamilton
Even before Agave & Rye opened its first Ohio location at Liberty Center, owners of the chain of trendy tequila/bourbon bars inside Mexican-inspired restaurants sought a location in Hamilton.
But at the time, company CEO Yavonne Sarber said they couldn’t find a location. The Journal-News last week first reported that Agave & Rye was chosen by a city panel to locate in the former Ritzi Body Shop near the corner of Main and E streets.
A development company called Local Development will hold the development agreement with the city, with a pledge to spend $2.5 million developing the property. Agave & Rye, while not the developer, is designing the space and has a 10-year agreement with Local Development.
Billy Yanks bourbon bar closer to opening in Hamilton: What to know
Creation of the Billy Yanks bourbon bar in Hamilton is progressing, with hopes of opening next month.
General Manager Jason Campbell told the Journal-News he hopes to open in late July.
That would be more good news for Hamilton’s Main Street business corridor, which like many areas nationwide is emerging from the economic doldrums of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it can add a further spark to the increasingly energized area with potential to attract new visitors to the city, believes Dan Bates, president and CEO of the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.