Tag: water street

Categories
Knife & Fork Magazines

Testing the waters: Wilson Craig bets on canned cocktails as the next big thing

Down on Water Street, Wilson Craig’s Waterbird Spirits production facility is cranking out tens of thousands of cans of premium cocktails. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

Under normal circumstances, having your jaw broken and reset in order to correct an underbite—and then being laid-up in recovery for two months—would be a bummer. But Wilson Craig was happy for the time on the couch. It gave him an opportunity to think. He took his meals through a straw, and wasn’t able to talk, so he spent a lot of time in his own head.

This was about a year ago, and he was living in Manhattan, where he worked in real-estate finance. In this regard, he was following in his father’s rather large footsteps. Hunter E. Craig is one of the biggest landowners and developers in town, a co-founder of Virginia National Bank, and a member of the board at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

With many alternative canned beverages entering the market, including hard seltzer and non-alcoholic “euphorics,” some using CBD, Craig might have reason to temper his enthusiasm for his own product. But, um—not a chance. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

But the younger Craig didn’t necessarily want to pick up the paternal mantle. Not long before the operation, he told his dad that he had an idea to create a canned-cocktail brand. He wanted to return from New York, settle down in Charlottesville, and launch the business in the city he knows and loves. His father liked the idea. He liked it so much that he helped his son start Waterbird Spirits.

“He asked, ‘Have you secured the name?’” Wilson Craig recalls. “I said, ‘Oh, yeah, I bought the domain name.’ But he was talking about the trademark. I was really starting from square one.”

More importantly, the Craigs connected with Delegate David Toscano, who introduced and secured quick passage of an amendment to Virginia liquor laws, allowing Waterbird to become the first business in the commonwealth to make and sell a “low alcohol beverage cooler” using a distilled spirit. Introduced in January and approved by the governor in mid-March, the amendment specifies a limit of 7.5 percent alcohol by volume.

After the law went into effect in July 1, Waterbird Spirits began cranking out tens of thousands of 12-ounce canned vodka-and-sodas and Moscow Mules from a sharp-looking shop on the corner of Water and West Second streets. The official launch took place on September 20, when the drinks—at $13.99 for a four-pack—hit shelves at Kroger, with sales at other food markets and retailers like Beer Run expected to follow. The space on Water Street will open for tours in 2020. (Waterbird does not have a license to offer on-site tastings.)

On a blistering-hot day in August, Craig tilts back in a chair in the Waterbird office and crosses his long legs. A woman knocks on the door. Craig uncrosses his legs, bolts upright, and hurries over to greet her.

“Hi,” says the woman.

“Hello,” Craig says, or rather, almost shouts.

“When are you guys opening?” she asks.

“Not for awhile, but we’re in production now,” Craig says.

“Great!” says the woman.

“Thanks so much for your interest,” Craig says. “Really—thank you!”

This is not an act. Craig relishes telling people about Waterbird. “We get a lot of that,” he says, bounding back to his chair. “I love it. People are curious, and we want them to see what’s going on here.”

He also wants you to know that the building, once The Clock Shop of Virginia, actually started as a Sears auto service center. “Sears used to be one of the biggest companies in the United States,” Craig says. “But what happens to a company when they don’t pay attention to their customers? They end up in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.”

His point: Waterbird will succeed by focusing relentlessly on what consumers want. In his opinion—shaped by months of conversations with his father and local winemakers, distillers, and brewers, including his official consultant, Hunter Smith of Champion Brewing Company, and some work with focus groups and taste-testers—consumers want high-quality canned cocktails. “We’re going to use potato vodka because it’s so much better than corn vodka” Craig says. “And we’re going to use cane sugar, because it’s infinitely better than high- fructose corn syrup.”

With many alternative canned beverages entering the market, including the aforementioned hard seltzer and non-alcoholic euphorics, some using CBD, Craig might have reason to temper his enthusiasm for his own product. But, um—not a chance.

“When I was living in New York, all my friends were drinking Bud Light, but not for the taste or any other redeeming factor—it was just convenient,” he says. “Convenience is king. So I thought, why isn’t there a better alternative for portable cocktails?”

As for marketing and branding, Craig sees Charlottesville, Virginia—which is clearly stamped on Waterbird’s label—as an asset.

“Charlottesville has received a lot of bad publicity,” he says. “But I just want to embrace the good. We want to be a product that people see and feel happy and proud that it’s made in Charlottesville. Excited, happy, upbeat, positive—that’s what this brand is.”

Categories
Living

Spirits on Water Street: Craft distillery approved for downtown location

A craft distillery is coming to the former Clock Shop space on Water Street. Rendering: Sage Designs LLC

A newly formed company—so new that it hasn’t gone public with its name yet—is looking to get into the spirits business with a craft distillery in the former Clock Shop building at 201 W. Water St. The working title for the project is Vodka House, according to Clark Gathright, the civil engineer and site planner who ushered the building’s new design through the Board of Architectural Review approval process. The initial idea had been to create a distillery and tasting room similar to Vitae Spirits, on Henry Street, and even to offer outdoor seating.

“We started out with that in mind,” Gathright says. “But we got smacked down.” Evidently, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau was not enamored of the tasting room idea.

Gathright says the distillery project is moving ahead, though he’s unsure what form it will ultimately take. Black Bear Properties LLC, which bought the building in 2016 and has ties to big-bucks developer Hunter Craig, had previously proposed to demolish it and build an eight-story luxury apartment building. The Charlottesville Planning Commission nixed that use of the site in November 2017.

In other news…

Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which has more than 500 locations in the United States and abroad, has opened at 853 W. Main St., in The Standard at Charlottesville apartment building…The Crozet Trolley Co. is up and running, ferrying tippling tourists to the area’s wineries, breweries, and distilleries in an old-timey looking bus. Tour prices start at $39 per person…Waynesboro-based Blue Ridge Bucha is touting its use of reusable bottles as evidence of its commitment to sustainability. “Since 2010, more than 933,750 bottles have been saved by customers choosing to refill their Bucha bottles on draft,” a recent company blog post stated…On March 31 at Junction, chef Laura Fonner of Duner’s joins Junction chef Melissa Close-Hart to create a four-course meal, benefiting the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. Cost is $40 per person; $55 with wine pairing. For more info, call 465-6131.

Gee Whiz! A Potbelly Sandwich Shop (home of the cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz sammie) is open for business on West Main Street. Supplied photo
Categories
News

Water Street construction closure affects businesses

Ashley Williams, the general manager and marketing director at Water Street restaurant, says the partial closing of the road with the same name has been bad for business. Rammelkamp Foto

Anyone attempting to drive east down Water Street over the past couple weeks has noticed a large traffic sign intercepting her mission—and some business owners in that area aren’t happy about it.

Construction of a seven-unit mixed-use building at 550 E. Water St. (called 550 Water Street) will cause intermittent lane closure for the next nine months, according to city spokesperson Miriam Dickler.

“It’s difficult to quantify exactly how much the partial closing has impacted our business, but I can definitely say it is significant,” says Ashley Williams, the general manager and marketing director at Water Street, the eatery located at 117 Fifth St. SE in the former Tempo space, which has only been open since the end of September.

There have been several instances when customers have wanted to eat at her restaurant for dinner, she says, but they were driving in from the west on Water Street or tried to make a left-hand turn after crossing over the Downtown Mall on Fourth Street, and were not able to do so.

“It is far from an easy one-block detour, and I have talked to many potential diners who have said that they ended up giving up because they got turned around or got stuck in traffic and just decided to go somewhere else,” she says.

A small parking lot once leased by C&O Restaurant, which sold to 550 Water Street developers for more than $1 million, is also blocked by the closure.

“When Dave [Simpson] sold me the restaurant, he said that parking lot could go at any time,” C&O chef and proprietor Dean Maupin says. “Of course, that day came and went, but honestly it has not affected anything at all.”

Though it has been more inconvenient for patrons, Maupin says “everyone seems to be taking it in stride and we really appreciate that.”

As a way around the detour, he says his crew has started offering complimentary valet service to guests on Friday and Saturday evenings.

“I’m just thankful the construction noise ends at 5 every day,” he says.

Dickler says the city is working on a plan to open the street to two-way traffic once the current utility work in the roadway is complete, which should happen on February 3. After that, the detour will only be in effect during the day, and two-way traffic will resume on nights and weekends. This will last for about four weeks.

At the beginning of March, the concrete barriers will return, but two-way traffic will be maintained by using the loading and valet parking spaces along Water Street. Two valet spaces will be moved one block down on Water Street, and two will move around the corner on Fifth Street. There will be one additional detour toward the end of the project to install gas to the new building and repave the roadway.

“Unfortunately, road projects often come with unavoidable impacts to businesses and property owners,” says Dickler. “Our staff works with those owners and the project team to mitigate those impacts as much as possible.”

Though the road closure is temporary, one business owner says blocked views of the mountains and Charlottesville favorites such as the Pink Warehouse are forever.

Nora Ayala, the owner of Low—vintage clothing, records and antiques, says before she moved into her Fifth Street location in 2010, she knew 550 Water Street would be built, but “I really, really dislike that every open space on Water Street is going to be gone,” she says. “It’ll be so cold.”

This isn’t the only inconvenience downtown visitors and workers can expect on Water Street, and perhaps it foreshadows the construction and detours stemming from West2nd, the fleet of luxury condos going in at the current City Market site later this year. Stay tuned.

Categories
Living

Water Street replaces Tempo

Ashley Sieg Williams (above) and Brice Cunningham are bringing a new restaurant concept to the former Tempo space. Rammelkamp Foto

There’s a new restaurant in the old Tempo space on the corner of Water Street and Fifth Street SE. It’s fittingly called Water Street, and, according to Ashley Sieg Williams, a trained chef who runs the front of the house, it’s not a rebranding of Tempo—it’s an entirely new restaurant.

Williams says she and chef Brice Cunningham—who will lead the Water Street kitchen—decided to leave Tempo behind because “it was time to change into something else.”

Water Street, which opens this weekend, will offer small and large plates, plus beer, wine and cocktails, all served in an upscale casual setting.

Gone are the cow-print couches and the water buffalo head watching over the bar; in their place are soft blue-gray benches, white orchids, Moroccan pendant lamps and mirrors galore.

The food menu will change often, says Williams, likely every two weeks. It’s “elegant, inventive but approachable food,” she says. It has elements of both French and American cuisine and aims to “show some new, fun flavors that [people] haven’t seen in Charlottesville,” Williams says, such as the charred Spanish octopus with fava bean salad. Other small plates ($5-12) include Israeli couscous with Italian tuna salad, roasted baby carrots with thyme and chardonnay, and pork rillettes with an Albemarle Baking Company baguette and cornichons.

Large plates, such as lamb shank with sautéed spinach, salmon filet or flank steak with mint and chili, are also on the menu for about $20 each.

And Williams is particularly excited about the wine program, which offers featured wines for $8 per glass and $30 per bottle. The idea is to encourage people to choose a wine based on their own tastes and interests, not by price point. The restaurant does have an extensive wine list separate from the menu, though it comes with a heftier price tag.

The Cheers of Charlottesville

After 10 years of pouring pints, Tuesday trivia nights, flip cup leagues and St. Paddy’s Day parties, McGrady’s Irish Pub will close after its grand finale party on Saturday, September 25.

“It will be McGrady’s no more,” says manager Tracy Tuttle, who started working at the bar as a bouncer on St. Patrick’s Day 2006.

Tuttle says the pub’s original owners have returned and plan on completely remodeling the space. Although the restaurant’s concept has been chosen, he can’t reveal it yet.

One thing Tuttle will miss: the always unpredictable St. Patrick’s Day parties. “You never knew what was going to happen. That was fun,” he says.

Wait staff and bartenders from the last 10 years will return to serve that final night, and from 1-5pm the bar will hold a silent auction for its wall hangings; half of the proceeds will be donated to Red Shoe Cville.

Beer fest date changes

Originally scheduled for Saturday, September 24, the Top of the Hops Beer Festival will now take place on Saturday, November 5, still at the Sprint Pavilion on the Downtown Mall. All tickets purchased for the September 24 event will be honored for the November date.

Contact Erin O’Hare at eatdrink@c-ville.com.

Categories
News

Stopped light: Long wait at downtown signal triggers questions

Besides creating delays on Water Street, the Third Street SE stoplight is also known for once having a Southern-accented male voice instructing pedestrians when to cross. Staff photo

On Water Street, buses regularly back up at a traffic light at Third Street SE that has the Water Street Parking Garage on one side and a half street dead-ending on the Downtown Mall on the other. Water Street traffic can idle at this light for nearly a minute, by this reporter’s count. The Charlottesville Area Transit advisory board asked that it be changed, a request that was under way until City Manager Maurice Jones intervened and put the request on hold.

“Some business owners raised some concerns that they believe this crosswalk is the best one for folks with mobility issues or handicapped to get on the mall,” says city spokesperson Miriam Dickler. “They asked the city to reconsider. We put a pause on that to consider other options.”

That pause has raised concerns for Lena Seville, who sits on the CAT advisory board, which has been asking that the signal, which is right after a bus stop, be changed for months. “We were told Neighborhood Development Services couldn’t restripe until the weather was warm,” she says. “Everything I was told was that it was going to be removed.”

Seville also says she was told someone on City Council had intervened on someone else’s behalf who did not want the signal removed.

“A lot about this bothers me,” she says. “There’s a process in place. They’re elected to be fair, not to get special treatment for friends and donors. They’re supposed to work for the overall benefit of the public, not the special benefit of individuals.”

“Nobody I talked to had talked to anybody from City Council about this,” says Dickler. “People contact the city manager’s office all the time. It’s a totally appropriate way to contact the city.”

She says Neighborhood Development and CAT staff are working to evaluate the situation.

“It does delay the buses,” especially at the bottom of the hour when 11 buses leave the Transit Center and get stopped at the light, says CAT manager John Jones. “The last bus in line can lose four minutes of transit time. People riding the No. 10 bus are quite sensitive to delays.”

“It seemed ridiculous to back up traffic on that street,” says Seville. “Each bus has to wait for its own green light.”

From her own observation at the bus stop, she says it’s rare to see someone use that crosswalk. And she says the green light for dead-end Third Street stays green as long as it is on Water Street—with no traffic coming out of Third.

“The thing is, it’s not activated by actual use,” she says. Lights can have sensors or can be pedestrian activated. “I don’t think it should work the way it works. It could be modified.”

It’s not the first time there has been grousing about the city’s handling of traffic lights. The long-awaited McIntire Interchange opened in February 2015, and for months drivers languished through multiple cycles at a light that was green for only 18 seconds, despite heavy traffic volume, backups and complaints. Lights installed at Park Street also stalled commutes.

Citizens who have concerns about traffic issues can contact Neighborhood Development, for which Rashad Hanbali is the new traffic engineering manager, says Dickler. Or, apparently, they can also complain to the city manager’s office.

“It appears there’s sort of a lack of transparency and evenness to this process,” says Seville. “It feels like things are happening behind the scenes. I would have liked it transparent and public.”