A divided Shawnee City Council this week gave the OK to use city economic development money to help Friction Beer Co. renovate the top floor of its downtown storefront into an events space.
On Monday, the city council voted 5-4 to approve a $100,000 Shawnee Entrepreneurial and Economic Development, or SEED, grant for Friction to renovate and expand the upper level of its two-story building.
Councilmembers Mike Kemmling, Jacklynn Walters, Angela Stiens and Kurt Knappen voted in dissent. Mayor Mickey Sandifer broke the tie to approve it.
The plan to expand Friction’s upstairs into an event space has been in the works since before the brewery opened in 2023, its owners said. They said they have already installed plumbing and electrical systems upstairs and were waiting to see if they could secure the funding needed to complete it.
“The tap room here on the first floor has been open for, it’ll be two years in June, and when we were doing construction during COVID, we roughed in the upstairs, but had to table it for a variety of reasons, and now we’re looking at restarting that and getting it open as an events space,” said Brent Anderson, co-founder of the brewery.
SEED is a city-run program that provides one-time payments in the form of forgivable loans to businesses as part of Shawnee’s efforts to encourage the expansion of existing businesses and attract new employers, according to city documents.
The money in the city’s SEED fund comes from the landfill impact fee paid by trash hauler Waste Management.
Over the past 12 years, SEED grants have been paid out to more than 30 local companies, many of them in the city’s downtown area, including the Aztec Theater, McLain’s Market and Drastic Measures cocktail bar.
Friction Beer opened in 2023
Friction Beer Co. opened two years ago in the historic building in downtown Shawnee that housed Hartman Hardware for nearly 75 years.
Before Friction opened, the business utilized a $150,000 SEED grant from the city to help with its $2.5 million renovations to the space, including gutting the storefront.
While the taproom has proven successful, its co-founders saw promise in expanding the upstairs space.
“We were put in the uncomfortable position of having to kind of table it so we could get open downstairs,” Anderson said. “But we’ve been thinking about it ever since and looking at creative ways to get it financed and get it happening. And now we’re finally getting to that point.”
Nathan Ryerson, Friction’s other co-founder, said it’s partially a service to the area, as well as an homage to the building’s past.
“Looking at the history of this building, it was a dance hall back in the ’20s. So, it really was something that brought the community together back then,” he said. “It’s something that we kind of thought was fitting to try and do with it, moving forward and making an event space that the community can use.”
The space would hold up to 100 people and be used for a variety of meetings and celebrations.
“It could be as simple as a city meeting for people here. It could be a watch party for the World Cup, which we’re really looking forward to. It could be a wedding party. You name it,” Ryerson said. “It’s a good-sized space with a lot of historical character.”
Some councilmembers bought into Friction’s vision
Speaking with Anderson and Ryerson during Monday’s council meeting, Councilmember Tony Gillette expressed his support.
“Thanks for your vision and bringing this for downtown Shawnee and expanding our downtown,” he said. “It’s a a wonderful place to come downtown, have a meal, connect with people and have a beverage, as well.”
Agreeing with Gillette’s sentiment, Councilmember Laurel Burchfield thanked Anderson and Ryerson for their commitment to improving the space.
“I’m really excited to know that this building’s in good hands as you redesign it and as you bring it into the community for us to use for all of these exciting events we’re going to have,” she said.
But other councilmembers opposed the move
In contrast, Councilmember Kurt Knappen said that he has “SEED fatigue,” something he’s suggested with several other recent SEED grant requests the council has reviewed.
“We already did give a SEED grant (to Friction) to (renovate) this structure. The business is doing well. And so, they asked for more money for the same building. (That’s what) I’m having difficulty with,” he said
While he said he toured the upstairs and was impressed by it, Knappen didn’t see the need to give Friction more public funding.
“We’re being asked to spend SEED money on an upstairs event space, which would really not be available to the majority of the public most of the time,” he said. “I love Friction, I really do. And an upstairs space would be great. But it seems like if the general public’s going to contribute financially to the space, it should be able to enjoy it and be available to the public most of the time.”
What’s next?
Following the meeting, Anderson and Ryerson said they called their contractors to get ready to work on the space.
While they appreciated hearing both sides of the city council, they were ultimately pleased that the grant was approved.
“We (got) both sides of the equation and heard what everybody has to say,” Anderson said. “But I hope when it’s all said and done, that everybody can see that what we intended to do and what we’re going to do is a benefit to the community.”
Renovation work is expected to take between four and six weeks to complete. They say they hope to have the event space open by summer.
Other Shawnee SEED news: This Shawnee coffee shop is so busy it needs more parking
