Tin Roof Brewery sells land on Oklahoma St. to BRAF for $350K

Land purchased by the Tin Roof Brewing Company last year for $115,000—once the planned location for a new brewery—has been sold for $349,308 to an entity affiliated with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, according to records filed with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court’s office. The vacant property at 635 Oklahoma St., at the intersection of River Road, measures just under 1 acre. Tin Roof bought it last August, just before plans for the nearly 30-acre, $50 million Water Campus research and office park were publicly announced in December. Construction of the Water Campus’ first building is set to begin before the end of the year, less than a block from the parcel BRAF has purchased from Tin Roof. BRAF is a key partner in the development of the Water Campus. Tin Roof Brewing co-founder William McGehee III says the sale hasn’t interfered with the brewery’s expansion plans. McGehee says after they bought the land, they realized it would be too small for their plans and decided to stay put at their current location, which is about a block away. “We started reevaluating and realized we were going to be where we are for a while,” McGehee says. The brewery installed new fermentation vessels that increased its brewing capacity at the 1624 Wyoming St. location at the beginning of the year and plans to open its highly anticipated taproom in the next two weeks, with a grand opening in mid-October. For more on the Water Campus, read the Business Report cover story from December. Check out a 225 profile of the Tin Roof Brewery from April. —Kelly Connelly