Business

Taproom coming to former Swanson's space

The old Swanson’s store at 425 N. Main St. is being renovated for use as a taproom, coffee shop and loft apartment.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 20, 2020

The old Swanson’s piano store on Main Street is being transformed into a microbrewery with a taproom and coffee and yogurt shop.

 Vandrake Investments LLC received approval from the Hendersonville Historic Preservation Commission last week for a new façade featuring a rollup door and renovation for the brewery.
Designed by Hendersonville architect Wayland Shamburger, the project will be built by Cooper Construction Co. Although Hendersonville has five breweries in and around downtown, the taproom at 425 S. Main St. would be the first on Main Street. The taproom will be operated by D9 Brewing Co., a growing microbrewery based in Cornelius.
“It will be a neat concept,” said Benjamin Vanhook, who bought the building last year. “The brewery equipment will be sort of on the floor where everybody can see it. Upstairs we’re doing a loft apartment that we’ll Airbnb. Of course we’re sound proofing everything thing between the two floors. We’re excited about Hendersonville. We really like the downtown Hendersonville area … with the wide streets and wide sidewalks. A lot of towns don’t have that.”
Vanhook and his investment group have been serving as the real estate arm for D9 Brewing Co., a growing operation that was started by “two engineers and a doctor” in 2014, according to its website. D9 announced plans last year to expand into Uptown Charlotte with an 8,000-square-foot taproom called D9 Brewing-The Pavilion at Uptown.
Vandrake Investments bought the 4,800-square-foot property from Swanson & Sons Realty Management LLC in February 2019 for $500,000. It’s valued on the tax books at $479,800. D9 Brewing Co. has signed a long-term lease to rent the renovated space.
The Hendersonville location will also have a coffee and yogurt shop open earlier in the day. The shop will be a unit of Vanhook’s Main Street Coffee and Yogurt Store in his hometown of Franklin.
“They will open in the morning and have pastries and bagels and coffee,” he said.
Although the city’s historic preservation site dates the building to 1925, some reports say it was built in 1896. A two-story striated brick structure in a range of lighter-colored brick, the commercial building has three second-story bays with six-over-one windows and stone piers on either end of building.
“We stripped it down to the brick,” Vanhook said. “It’s got a really awesome feel inside of it.” The stone “really accents the rest of the brick. Wayland took all that was there and made it into a theme. I think it’ll be a really great attraction for downtown Hendersonville.”