By Drew Misemer
Nestled behind the offices of this very newspaper, a building lies untouched and uninhabited, one of the few that was not redeveloped into the new Carmel Arts & Design District. The old Ferrin wine building is not just getting a face lift, as much as a full overhaul from the foundation up.
The mastermind behind the redevelopment? Dulce Martinez Belcher, a former registered nurse and employee of Olinger Distributing Co, a wine distributor, is also a mother of three.
Crush & Brew, the name of the ‘soon to be’ wine retailer and restaurant, will feature wine, craft beer and coffee. Its license, a on-premise with carry out, allows them to have retail space, a wine bar and a restaurant.
Renovations for the building will begin as soon as the city clears the permits and paperwork. The whole renovation, which will tear down the building and rebuild it from the ground up, will take roughly a month and a half to finish.
“I’d love to have it done and finished by June,” Belcher said.
With an unstable economy, a start-up business is risky, but Belcher seems confident in her employees and herself.
“The expensive wine wasn’t flying off the shelves, but the lower it got, the quicker it went,” Belcher said. “We’re trying to bridge the gap by (finding) a twenty dollar bottle of wine (that) tastes like a fifty dollar bottle.”
Bruce Calabrese, owner of nearby Old Town Tavern, is appreciative of the newcomer to the downtown nightlife scene.
“I don’t call it competition,” Calabrese said. “I call it support.”
When asked about her location choice, Belcher said she chose the location because it was close to Main Street and had frontage space and good parking nearby.
Calabrese understands the importance of parking.
“The only problem is the parking.” Calabrese said. “I can fit maybe fourteen cars in my lot. If the city paved and accessed it right, I could get twenty into it.”
