USA, OH: Ignite Brewing Company working on new location in Brunswick

“We are super excited,” said Ignite District Manager Rachelle Halchak. “We are hopeful to be open Jan. 1 at the latest. Working with the City (of Brunswick) has been super simple.”

Ignite opened its current location at 600 W. Tuscarawas Ave. in Barberton in 2017 and has made a number of menu and building expansions since that time.

Halchak said the company hopes the new Brunswick location will help shore up business during Ignite’s slower winter months.

Being located inside the Swish 365 building also has its advantages, Halchak said.

“(We will be) part of the sports facility, and that was one of the most appealing things -- having thousands of their customers walking past,” she said.

Ignite’s planned 114-seat indoor restaurant and brewhouse, along with a 4,600-square-foot patio with 152 seats, moved one step closer to fruition Sept. 1 when the Brunswick Planning Commission approved the company’s detailed site plan.

The plan also includes a 600-square-foot outdoor cooler and a small shed for a chiller -- each used during the brewing process -- and expansion of the existing parking lot by 134 spaces, for a total of 219 spaces.

A fenced-in playground area used by one of the building’s former tenants, Head Start, will be removed, along with a portion of a sidewalk.

Head Start recently relocated to St. Mark Lutheran Church, 1330 N. Carpenter Road. Another of the building’s former tenants, the Brunswick Food Pantry, moved to a space in the Rolling Acres Plaza on Pearl Road in July.

Brunswick Economic and Community Development Director Grant Aungst said a business such as Ingite Brewing Company is a perfect fit for the city.

“In our (most recent) comprehensive plan, the community asked if we could have a brewery, and now we do,” Aungst said.

“And Ignite has won many industry awards in a very short time. They are a very serious, top-notch group.”