Brewery To Open In Tinley Park’s Vogt Building

TINLEY PARK, IL -- An historic building in downtown Tinley Park is about to undergo a renovation and become a brewery that could open as early as next year. The new owners of The Vogt Building plan to turn the space that’s been vacant for at least the last five years into Banging Gavel Brews.

“This is a beautiful building,” said Walter Ornelas, co-owner of Banging Gavel. “We are going to give it some tender, love and care and make it a destination spot in downtown Tinley Park.” He says talks have already begun with preservation societies and architects about keeping the exterior of the building and working on putting in new woodwork and tuck painting while adding a “slightly more modern feel” to the inside.

This will be Banging Gavel’s first brewery, but brewing beer will be nothing new to Ornelas and co-owner Jim Richert, a Tinley Park resident. They’ve been distributing their product for the last three years out of Church Street Brewery in Itasca.

“We’ve got a bit of a following and have been able to move beer,” Ornelas said, adding that he wanted to “make sure what we were doing was going to stick” before opening up a brewery of their own.

At Banging Gavel, the brewery will open in the basement. A taproom and seating will be on the first floor with a “full-size kitchen” on the second, according to Ornelas.

“We have to have good food and we will,” he said. “It will be farm to fork dishes. We’ve talked to a few chefs over the past few months to get more knowledge of food.”

There will be more private seating on the second floor with a smaller taproom. Outdoors there will be a garden with a space for live musical performers. The “music vibe” will be at the brewery all-year round with performances taking place indoors during the winter. Local artists will also come on a weekly basis.

“We’ll give you great tasting beer and a great experience,” Ornelas said.

The Vogt Building, located at Oak Park Avenue and Hickory Street in Tinley Park, hasn’t been used for anything since offices took up the space a few years back. The opening of the brewery means the building will be back as one of the spots to see in Tinley Park.

“We want to make sure it remains a monument,” Ornelas said. “We are still working with the village on permits and people in the downtown area to make sure it is in line with the village’s re-branding of Tinley Park.”

Ornelas said he and Richert picked Tinley Park for their first brewery location not only because Richert lives here but it was found to be a community that would be “accepting of what we do.”

“I’ve attended several events in Tinley with friends from (other area breweries), so I knew something like this could work,” he said. “We want to make this the cornerstone of Downtown Tinley.”

It was Richert, however, who provided the inspiration for the name “Banging Gavel.”

“At first we wanted ‘Pilsen Brewworks,’ but someone actually already owns that name,” Ornelas said. “We settled on Banging Gavel because Jimmy is a practicing attorney.”

Photo provided