They're not keeping the car wash. Sorry if you were hoping to be bathed in a fountain of beer.
Richmond has a lot of breweries, but let's be honest: it always needs more. The Quick Splash Car Wash at 310 W. Brookland Park Blvd. is about to meet this eternal need by transforming from car wash into local watering hole. This is great because I don't have a car, but I do have an eternal need for quality beer. Quality beer is something the proposed car-wash-turned-brewery, Safety Team Brewing Company, promises to supply. The brewery is the brainchild of Brandon Tolbert and Chris Campanella, both veterans of the industry. The two came up with the idea for Safety Team Brewing Company together. Tolbert recently left his job as the head brewer at The Answer, a local brewery renowned for its versatile and (if I may say) fantastic craft beer. Knowing that this new brewery comes from Tolbert is promising for lovers of craft beer, since he says he'll keep producing the kind of beer people know him for: "IPAs and stouts."
Opening a brewery at an abandoned car wash is certainly creative, but hey, why not? Tolbert has the expertise in brewing, Campanella is a veteran of the restaurant industry, and the two are well-equipped for what looks like a promising venture. They're also working with Cory Weiner of CW Performance Group, a real estate developer and landowner in the region.
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Courtesy of Safety Team Brewing Company[/caption]
Campanella told Richmond Magazine that the brewery's name comes from an old memory with friends. He said that "Safety Team" was a bit of an inside joke with old bandmates when they would discuss having "Safety Team" meetings. This was code for getting drunk with your bros, and there was no actual safety discussed. "Safety Team" sounds like a plan to save the world, which, I guess, opening a brewery kind of is?
The trio announced their plans at a Brookland Park Area Association meeting on Thursday, June 14. Weiner, speaking publicly, said they're planning to tear down the car wash and utilize an adjacent lot to build a two-story in-house brewery which would include an open patio with outdoor seating, 13 parking spaces for customers, and an employee base of about 20-30 people.
Quick Splash Car Wash, built in 1950, sold for $25,000. Sadly, the structure is no longer a car wash, but simply an abandoned relic to former days. The Richmond Times-Dispatch describes it as "defunct." And upon seeing a photo of Quick Splash Car Wash, this claim checks out:
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Quick Splash Car Wash at 310 W. Brookland Park Blvd. (Courtesy of John Reid Blackwell/Richmond Times-Dispatch)[/caption]
Before opening the brewery, Weiner needs to get a special use permit from the city -- a process that could take up to six months. He is also seeking public support for the operation, which was met with mixed reviews at the Brookland Park Area Association meeting, where residents expressed concern about inviting a "party culture" to the neighborhood.
“We feel that a brewery is a great addition to Brookland Park Boulevard,” Weiner said in the meeting. “It will help bring other businesses to the neighborhood. It will help bring people to the neighborhood and just overall grow the economic development in the neighborhood.”
Willie Harvard, president of the Brookland Park Area Association, told the Times-Dispatch that the concern is not with the three business partners, but with "what is going to be good for the soul of the community." While Weiner still needs community support to gain the special use permit, the city has been friendly to similar operations in the past.
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Chris Campanella and Brandon Tolbert, co-founders of Safety Team Brewing Company. Courtesy of Jonathan Spiers/Richmond BizSense)[/caption]
Campanella says they care about the residents' concerns and that they want to be part of the neighborhood, not change it.
“We don’t want to be seen as coming in from outside and trying to take over. We want to be ‘part of,’” Campanella said in the public meeting. “We’re not here to try to sneak something past you. We’re here before we start.”
Beer enthusiasts are certainly excited.
"Everyone is excited to go on to see him found his own brewery," says Nick Livingstone, one of Brandon's former co-workers at The Answer. "We're all excited to go and drink his beers."
Construction of the 6,500-square-foot brewery is expected to begin in the fall, with a potential opening planned for next year.
What's your favorite brewery in Richmond? Do you think Richmond needs more breweries? Share your thoughts in the comments!
