A Columbus brewpub honored as the best small brewery in the nation is about to get a lot bigger.
ZwanzigZ, known as a signature pizza and beer destination near downtown Columbus, is putting the finishing touches on a $3 million renovation project that has transformed a deteriorating warehouse at 12th and Jackson streets into a state-of-the-art craft brewery. It’s located just a few blocks from the well-known restaurant.
For ZwanzigZ fans, no significant changes at the restaurant itself are planned at 1038 Lafayette Ave., said Kurt and Lisa Zwanzig. The tap room there is being expanded and the full-service dining area is getting bigger too, but the well-known menu and beer selection won’t be changing.
The purchase and complete renovation of the nearby warehouse provides the owners with long-needed space to exponentially expand their craft brewing operation and make customer-centered improvements at the pizzeria, Lisa Zwanzig said.
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Moving much of the craft brewing equipment at Zwanzig to the warehouse, but not all of it, will allow some rearranging of space for tables and more private spaces around the dining area and a revamp of the restrooms to make them bigger, the couple said.
ZwanzigZ customers may begin to notice these changes in the coming months.
The new warehouse once was the Sapps Bakery building — and later a furniture warehouse. It is being transformed into a modern and stylish craft brewery encompassing 11,000-square fee.
It will allow ZwanzigZ to brew up to 15 times more beer than the current configuration on Lafayette Avenue — 800 barrels a year — while still maintaining the ability to produce small, unique batches of beer, Kurt Zwanzig said.
The renovated warehouse will now be ZwanzigZ headquarters, a production brewing facility and a location for a tasting room and special-event space.
The new warehouse features a 1,000-square-foot walk-in cooler, which is surrounded by windows, an unusual feature, plus hundreds of beer kegs, an automated keg cleaning machine and significantly more brewing equipment.
It’s significant to note that the walk-in cooler for the brewery is substantially larger than the very first ZwanzigZ restaurant, which started out in about 200 square feet in 2002 as a one-room pizzeria on the edge of Columbus.
“It’s kind of fun to measure your growth in the size of a walk-in cooler,” Kurt Zwanzig said.
When ZwanzigZ won the best small brewpub in the nation award two years ago at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, plans for the warehouse were still in blueprint form.
“We didn’t take the decision lightly,” Kurt Zwanzig said of the multi-million investment, in which the couple did not ask for any city support or tax breaks as part of the development. “We chose to refurbish and repurpose an old, dilapidated building versus constructing a new building.”
They knew from previous experience that this approach would take longer and unexpected issues would occur that would increase the cost and extend the completion date.
And that did happen, Kurt Zwanzig said.
“But that’s where ZwanzigZ shines,” he said. “We assembled a great team of designers, architects and builders who worked diligently and creatively to bring this project to completion. And in the end, we preserved a piece of Columbus’ history and a building that was once a neglected eyesore is now a beautiful structure to behold — both inside and out.”
Kurt and Lisa Zwanzig designed the revamp of the building with the help of architect Jeff Marshall of Design & Planning, Columbus. Construction was by Repp & Mundt.
Because of the warehouse’s declining condition, only a few exterior walls could be kept, with the rest of the structure being gutted and rebuilt around what could be saved.
Sapps Bakery was located in the building in the early 1950s. In the early 1960s, the bakery moved to National Road, and the warehouse building was used for storage. The couple bought the building in early 2016.
Although much of the original footprint was altered, the couple kept one portion — creating their offices along the north side of the building where they believe Sapps once had its offices.
A private entry leads to the couple’s separate offices, which feature walls in an antique-gray and rustic tiles that complement the industrial feel throughout the space. The area contains a conference room and further along to the back, office space and a break room for employees.
Doors from the office space open into the main warehouse area where visitors immediately see an expansive and attractive brick red floor, chosen for its durability in the face of craft brewing and its adaptability to being easily cleanable and non-slip.
The brick-like color was chosen to match the warm tones from the brick exterior while still keeping an industrial vibe through the flooring, Lisa Zwanzig said.
The Zwanzigs were able to keep the original brick on the exterior walls they saved, and worked with Belden Brick Co. of Ohio to match the brick color known as rainbow red.
Architect Marshall accented the exterior with black diamond insets that filled the holes where drain spots once dotted the building, and Lisa Zwanzig added a whimsical rain chain at the front which hangs at the entry. The water now flows like a fountain out of the chain during a rain storm and is quite a conversation piece, she said.
About eight people will work at the warehouse, bringing ZwanzigZ employment up to about 58 at the time everything is done, Kurt Zwanzig said. Equipment is continuing to be moved in this month.
The Zwanzigs estimate they could be brewing in the warehouse by mid-June, perhaps a little sooner.
“The tendency in craft brewing is to see if you can dominate the world,” Kurt Zwanzig said. “But it’s not like that for us. We don’t want to lose the ability to do what we’ve always done to try to see how big we can get. Lisa and I — if we do that — we would be giving up our roots, and the connection to our beer, and to brewmaster Mike Rybinski,” he said.
“When we started this, we said, ‘Let’s do something we can be proud of,” Kurt Zwanzig said. “That’s why there’s so much attention to detail.”
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Location: Pizzeria and tap room, 1038 Lafayette Ave., Columbus, features specialty pizzas and sandwiches, along with more than 20 craft beers and sodas on tap.
New warehouse: 315 12th St., includes corporate offices and new craft brewery operation
Employees: 58 when warehouse is completed.
Founded: 2002 as a one room pizzeria in Columbus.
Hops: Features Columbus, Centennial and Cascade hops, grown at the Lafayette Avenue location and featured during Columbus’ historic garden tour.
For a list of craft beers and more information: zwanzigz.com.
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