Though the owner of Kinship Brewery told the Des Moines Register in November he had no plan to sell the foreclosed business in Waukee, a commercial real estate firm is now listing the building and land for sale.
Lincoln Saving Bank foreclosed on Kinship’s Waukee taproom at 255 Sunrise Dr. N.W. in October, saying the brewery and the limited liability company that owns the property, Sunrise Drive Acquisitions, had defaulted on loans of $3.5 million and $2.4 million and that Kinship had failed to keep up payments on an operating loan with a $44,898 balance.
Owner Zack Dobeck insisted in an interview the following month that there was “a path forward” for the brewery, which opened in 2021, and at the time he still was operating the taproom with attenuated hours. In December, however, amid complaints by employees that they hadn’t been paid, Kinship closed the taproom, posting on Facebook that it would reopen May 1.
Court records show that on March 21, Kinship, Sunrise Drive Acquisitions, Lincoln Savings Bank and Dobeck told a Dallas County judge they had agreed to a settlement in the foreclosure case, but needed until April 4 to finalize the terms. As first reported by the Des Moines Business Record, the property is now on the market.
Riley Hogan, a senior vice president at West Des Moines commercial real estate firm CBRE, said Wednesday he is marketing the property on behalf of Kinship’s investors. Dobeck did not respond to a request for comment.
The listing says the 12,180-square-foot building sits on 5.95 acres with a 156-space parking lot. There is a half-acre dog park, a large patio and a beer production facility with $1,5 million in equipment and a 40,000-barrel annual capacity. In addition, Kinship for a period in 2023 also was hosting a fine-dining restaurant.
Other breweries inquiring about property, agent says
Hogan said several breweries, both in Iowa and elsewhere, have inquired about the facility. Likely its best use would be as a brewery because it is ready to start making beer immediately, he said. In fact, Kinship brews continued to be on draft at some local bars as recently as last month.
But Hogan said the building also could lend itself to other uses, such as a bowling alley with a restaurant. And he said there is enough room on the site for a separate retail or office building, Hogan said.
“We could have a business owner buy the building and build their office building there,” Hogan said. “Build an apartment building there. Build condo units. There’s so many opportunities out there that present itself that are different in today’s world than it was five years ago. This building plays right into those expanding categories.”
The sales listing does not specify an asking price, and Hogan said it is negotiable. The Dallas County Property Appraiser lists the building’s assessed value at $2.4 million, but Dobeck in November said a private appraiser had valued it at $5.3 million.
Brewery sits amid booming development
Dobeck in 2020 said he had moved to the Des Moines metro with his wife, an Iowa native, from Atlanta in 2018 with opening a brewery in mind.
Areas surrounding Kinship have boomed since Kinship opened. Waukee is among the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, and single-family and multi-family housing developments are being built along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which is connected to property. Waukee Northwest High School sits about a half mile away.
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Hogan described the project as “slightly ahead of its time,” and said that with the infrastructure work that has gone into the area since Kinship opened, it is primed for another owner to turn it into an asset for Waukee.
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“The landscape out there has changed so much over the last 24 months, 12 months,” Hogan said. “The residential rooftop growth is feeding a bunch of demand for new retail. So I think we’re in a good position.”
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.