OREGON, Ohio — A local brewery is expanding its footprint. Waterville-based Buffalo Rock Brewing Company received a permit from Oregon City Council to open a second location at the former Oregon Fire Station at 5002 Seaman Road.
"We're really excited about this," Buffalo Rock founding partner Troy Burns said. "It's been a long time coming. We've been planning this for a little while. I think all of us are super excited about it."
Similar to the original location, the new brewery will be pet-friendly and include a rotation of food trucks each day. Burns is also exploring the possibility of offering an overnight "brewers experience" stay through Airbnb, which council also approved as part of the permit. Customers would get the chance to stay in the former firefighters' bedrooms in the upstairs section of the facility.
The expansion is part of the fast-growing industry of breweries. In the last seven years, at least four local breweries have opened and expanded to multiple locations, along with dozens of other single locations.
Earnest Brew Works' founder Scot Yarnell said the industry's growth in northwest Ohio is about meeting a demand similar to other cities like Cleveland, Columbus and Ann Arbor.
"We knew Toledo had a vacuum," Yarnell, who opened Earnest in 2016 before expanding to two more locations, said. "We needed to open more breweries, and now we've opened more. It's about time that we get some more in this area."
Yarnell said breweries are popular because they're closer to a coffee shop than a bar: a quiet but social atmosphere where people can relax and enjoy a local brew.
"You can come in and chill with your laptop," Yarnell said. We get people that will come in, work and just sip on a beer."
Burns said he doesn't have a specific timeline to open the brewery yet but is hopeful it will be within the next 12 months. Council members acknowledged the building's history as the original Oregon City Hall before becoming a fire station.