By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
A visitor has to use some imagination to envision Zach and Chris Tracy’s dream as it unfolds.
Right now the space at 139 S. Main St. is a dark shell with wires hanging from the ceiling, the floors stripped, and all furnishings, save a fireplace, removed. The space was former home most recently of Panera Bread, and Stage Department store before that, and Uhlman’s before that.
Now the couple is transforming it into Juniper, a place for beer, coffee, food, and friends, Chris said.
Mornings will feature grab-and-go breakfast food, a hot pot of coffee, and, the specialty, four varieties of cold, nitro poured drinks. That will included hops infused coffee (alcohol-free), and something for “the kiddos,” a chocolate milk with just a bit of carbonation.
During the day Juniper will offer the coffee drinks, along with the on-site brewed beers and American comfort food with a fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced twist.
“We don’t want the food to be too pretentious,” Chris said. “We’re building the kind of space that if we want to go out to dinner we can take our kids, but we also want to feel like adults.”
“We don’t want the beer or the food to outshine the other,” Zach said. “We want to see how can we pair these things in a way that creates a unique experience.”
That’s still about six months off. Now that the demolition is done, there’s permits to secure. Equipment to arrive. Architectural drawings to be completed. And lots of hammering, drilling, and sawing as the space is built out into the Tracys’ dream space.
Chris Tracy points out where a small game room will be, the hostess station, and where there will be some high top tables. The south side will be devoted to dining. Back in another area will be the kitchen, and to the north the 10-barrel brewing system. There’ll also be a space for meetings that can be used for teaching.
They have exposed the long-covered tin ceiling. “We want to unleash the charm that was there in the past,” Chris said.
This will not be just another bar, Zach said. Rather it’ll be a place to gather for entertainment and work. A community center with beer. It’ll have space for a solitary customer to work, or for a company to hold a meeting. Hours will be from 7 a.m. — Zach will be in then to brew — to 11 p.m. or midnight.
Zach Tracy is a native of Bowing Green, the son of Bob and Anne Tracy, and a graduate of Bowling Green State University, as is his Falcon Flame, Chris.
They’ve lived in Cleveland for the past 13 years, where he taught chemistry and forensic science in Cleveland Heights, and she worked in banking.
The couple has three children, an 8-year-old son and 7-year-old twins, a girl and a boy.
Zach started brewing in 2003. Chris said: “The brewery has always been there, owning a space that’s really welcoming to folks. … That’s always been part of our dream. That’s what we brewed up in Cleveland those13 years.”
The pieces came together this year when they decided to move to Bowling Green to be closer to family and build their own business.
Chris still works in banking, and her knowledge of finance has helped line up the money needed to launch the project.
Zach quit teaching at the end of the school year. He said he wants to offer classes and workshops on beer and related subjects at Juniper. “That’s got to be part of it,” he said. “I miss my teaching job every day.”
He started brewing in 2003. Over the years he won a number of awards in Ohio and Michigan. In 2012 he trained through the American Brewers Guild, a 22-month course, mostly online, that concluded with a week at a California brewery.
Then he did a series of internships including at Fat Heads and Noble Beast, working with top regional brewers. All that experience, he said, has helped shape a personal style that will be showcased at Juniper.
In the same period, a friend, a fellow teacher who had moved to Traverse City, Michigan, to grow hops, approached him about experimenting with infusing coffee with the aromatic.
“We really came up with cool recipes,” he said, including “playing around chocolate” as well as creating coffee in style of classic beer varieties. The coffee adds an important element to the mix, giving customers who don’t want to consume alcohol an interesting option.
Presenting music is a distinct possibility, they said. Back in the late 1990s, his mother, Anne Tracy, produced a number of concerts in local bars featuring national folk acts. Zach said Juniper has the space to bring in music.
The curiosity about the fate of this key piece of downtown has been intense, and people have been supportive when they’ve heard the couple’s plans.
“It’s been intense this summer and into fall,” Chris said. “We’re starting to see the reality. It all makes sense. We feel really fortunate.”
