Hoptometry owners buy McGowan's

TIFFIN — The historic McGowan's Tavern, 255 N. Washington St., sold for $132,000 Wednesday to Rick Sutter, Brian Sutter and Zach Allen, the owners of Hoptometry Brewing Co. The new owners said Wednesday they plan to reopen in a few months as "a fine taphouse restaurant" featuring good food and craft beers. In the near future, the trio plans to add a microbrewery. Sutter said they haven't developed all the details yet because they weren't sure if they would be the high bidder at the auction until early Wednesday afternoon. "This has happened pretty quickly," he said. "We're in the very early stages of planning. "It's a little complicated, and we're not sure how it's going to work out," he said. "We're going to be rebranded as an extension of Hoptometry." The downtown building is not disappearing," Sutter said. "We've run into some roadblocks. It's going not as fast as we'd like, but we're working through them." He declined to elaborate on the "road blocks." In the meantime, the three men decided to embark on an interim project to create "a very small microbrewery" in their new building. They are planning to open under a new name, which hasn't been decided. "It won't still be McGowan's," Sutter said. "And we plan to pay homage to the history of the building through menu items or beer names." Auctioneer Mike Berland of Hanna Commercial Real Estate, Cleveland, said prior to the auction that the liquor license can be transferred. Closing was planned in 35 days. After the auction, Dan McGowan, of Bath, son of former owner Dan McGowan of Tiffin, said the McGowan family is spread out now and none of them wanted to take over operations. McGowan's final day of operation was Feb. 25. "We have a lot of great memories," he said. "It's sad in a way, but in another way it's a new beginning for somebody else." During a 2010 interview to announce the opening of the newly-remodeled McGowan's Tavern following a devastating fire in 2009, the elder Dan McGowan said he bought the business in 1976, after working there since he was 13 or 14 years old. He worked part-time behind the bar when he turned 21, and moved to full-time in 1973. He bought the bar in 1976 from his father, John McGowan, who in turn had acquired it from his father Bryan "Mac" McGowan. "My grandfather bought it originally in 1929," he said in 2010. "My father became a partner. He had started working there at 14 or 15, too." The elder McGowan said the building was built in 1910 as a theater and was an arcade until his grandfather bought it in 1929 and called it McGowan's Arcade. During the remodel after a devastating fire in 2009, the elder McGowan said a window was added overlooking Sixes Corners because the windows had been removed during a remodel in 1964. It also included a new bar with a decorative, copper-look ceiling along with flat-screen TVs. The bar re-opened in March 2010, just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Another new beginning is planned soon.