Jan. 11, 2019

Timing and coincidence have left downtown building owner Rick Gourley with potentially two tenant spaces to fill at the same time.

But the owner of the historic Stockman’s building at Eighth Street and Weber Avenue sees it as an opportunity to hopefully return to a business model the community enjoyed.

“It was a marriage of pizza and beer,” said Gourley, whose building houses Fernson on 8th and Breadico. Breadico’s storefront closed so the business could focus on bread. Fernson hasn’t announced plans for its space, but it could become available as the brewery plans to take over the former Bros space on Phillips Avenue.

At one time, Fernson customers could order pizza at Breadico and eat it in the taproom.

“That first six months was a honeymoon,” Gourley said. “It was doing really well.”

It did so well, it got hard to keep up, prompting the partnership to stop. Gourley hopes that whoever ends up using the space will either offer both as a single operator or collaborate.

“Here sits a turnkey operation for baking pizzas and selling beer,” he said. “I really believe at this point it should be under one umbrella.”

The combined space is about 3,700 square feet and connected by a door.

“It’s a cool building,” Gourley said. “I see it as something like a Monks (House of Ale Repute) that really features the beer but has a more extensive kitchen. It’s a great opportunity for somebody to come in and do something big.”

There has already been some interest in the space, he added.