Biergarten vision realized in Schenectady
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
By Bethany Bump (Contact)
Gazette Reporter  

SCHENECTADY — Somehow, when Matt Baumgartner looked at 165 Erie Blvd. in Schenectady, he saw the perfect spot for a bustling German beer garden.

Schenectady officials gave him tours of other buildings downtown, stately and historic and modern buildings. But he had his heart set on one building — a squat, nondescript one-story structure that used to house a dry cleaning operation. It had been vacant for seven years, surrounded by pavement and a few overgrown weeds here and there.

There was something about the slope of the roof, though. The A-frame of the eaves made him think of a ski lodge, and his imagination took it from there.

“I love renovating old, sad, uninhabited buildings,” he said. “And I remember that building from when I went to school at Union College. It just has a nice feel to it. It has parking. It looks a little like a ski chalet. And I always thought, this would make a really cool beer garden.”

Baumgartner, a prominent Capital Region restaurateur/entrepreneur, holds a fond spot in his heart for Schenectady. He graduated from Union College in 1995 and even drove an ice cream truck around Scotia for some time. In 2009, he opened a Bombers Burrito Bar on two levels of a three-story building across from Proctors in Schenectady.

This week, he’s gearing up to open his second Schenectady restaurant — a Wolff’s Biergarten at 165 Erie Blvd. — with partners Mark and Greta Graydon and Mark Fichera. They’ve set a tentative opening date of Thursday, Oct. 30, assuming the state approves a liquor license by then.

“I hope you all like it and we are all thrilled to add another restaurant to beautiful downtown Schenectady,” Baumgartner said in an Instagram post Sunday.

Transformation

Pictured was a building far different from the nondescript dry cleaner that once occupied the site. The facade is rough-hewn pine. Three garage doors, all a bright red, are punctuated by sconce lighting. Wooden gates and oak barrels topped with yews surround the building. German flags hang from the eaves. A moose head is visible from behind a large glass window.

It will be the second Wolff’s Biergarten in the Capital Region. He opened his first in Albany with partners Jimmy and Demetra Vann in 2009. Wolff’s bills itself as an “authentic German Biergarten.” It was voted the second best soccer bar in America this year by Sirius XM and was The Place To Go during this summer’s World Cup.

Baumgartner said he wants to keep the Wolff’s brand strong across the Albany and Schenectady locations, which is why you’ll find picnic tables and peanut shells littering the floor at both spots. Both locations will feature German food, beer and televisions blaring international soccer matches.

There will be some differences, though.

The Albany location has a much larger kitchen and can serve a full menu’s worth of German food. The Schenectady location will feature more fair-type food. A hot dog cart inside will serve bratwurst, veggie currywurst, pulled pork sandwiches and other hand-held foods. In addition, Wolff’s will contract with food trucks on a rotating basis to park outside and serve food to hungry patrons.

“So far we have about four to five committed food trucks,” Baumgartner said. “We do use them for special events in Albany, but we don’t feel the need to keep them out there all the time because we have a full kitchen.”

The Schenectady site will have 24 draft beers versus 18 in Albany. It will offer lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, and employ about 15 to 20 people.

Wolff’s is leasing the space at “an affordable rent,” he said. For the past six months, the building has undergone an intensive renovation, complete with brand new electrical wiring, plumbing upgrades and construction of a large patio.

The site was abuzz with activity Monday, as box trucks sat outside the chalet-style building and a crane hoisted a large rectangular “Wolff’s Biergarten Und Wurst Haus” sign from a truck bed.

“He always loved that building,” said Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen. “He had a certain vision for it, and he just really thought that building could be something.”

Baumgartner tweeted in April that he had signed a lease to operate a Wolff’s Biergarten in Schenectady. At the time, the building that he always remembered from his college days happened to be right in the middle of a newly reconstructed corridor. The $14 million reconstruction of Erie Boulevard from Interstate-890 to Union Street was just wrapping up. It included new underground utilities, fresh pavement, new sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, redesigned intersections, lampposts, an attractive median and fresh landscaping.

The timing of the two projects conflated to create a lot of buzz along the corridor, Gillen said.

“Matt is a proven operator,” he said. “He’s been very successful with all of his operations around the Capital Region, and we think the fact that he’s investing in this corridor has already brought us other opportunities because people respect him for the work he’s done. It’s generated additional interest in the corridor by other investors.”

Baumgartner said the Erie Boulevard reconstruction was one more reason to choose the old dry cleaning site.

“It all just seemed to be good timing for another beer garden in the Capital Region,” he said.

Maybe I missed it, but a restaurant on top of a site that used to be a cleaners????
Did I miss the EPA study showing clear site?  usually the old cleaners are responsible
for dumping of chemicals (intentional or not) into the ground.  Unless I see a clean
bill of health from EPA, I would be hesitant to eat food that may glow in the dark!

Feiern Sie mehr schlecht bezahlte Wohlfahrt subventionierte Arbeitsplätze
Und feiern Sie ein anderes Reduzierung in der Stadt Steuerbasis
Feiern mehr Menschen verlieren ihre Häuser
Feiern die Reichen immer reicher aus den Brieftaschen der Armen der Stadt
Feiern Sie höhere Steuern

Achten Sie auf weitere Brand; beobachten Sie die Erweiterung der Geisterstadt

Wird er ein Haus in der Stadt kaufen? Wird er Miete in der Stadt?
Er vermeidet die Stadt für die Pest, die es ist. Keine kleinen Zeh in der Stadt.

Er hat viele Bars in der Stadt für Bier, um den Bauch zu verbreiten gehen

I believe that the actual dry cleaning may have been done at KEM's plant which was located on State Street.  There is no way that the Biergarten or any other business would have been approved to remodel a building and open up a business in it  if the proper environmental review (and any necessary remediation) had not been done.

No need to worry, just drink up a pint of Schneider Aventinus and follow it with a shot of Jägermeister -- repeat a few times -- then you'll forget that it was ever a anything but a German beer garden.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I believe that the actual dry cleaning may have been done at KEM's plant which was located on State Street.  There is no way that the Biergarten or any other business would have been approved to remodel a building and open up a business in it  if the proper environmental review (and any necessary remediation) had not been done.

No need to worry, just drink up a pint of Schneider Aventinus and follow it with a shot of Jägermeister -- repeat a few times -- then you'll forget that it was ever a anything but a German beer garden.

Are you pregnant, or is it over indulgence in beer.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I believe that the actual dry cleaning may have been done at KEM's plant which was located on State Street.  There is no way that the Biergarten or any other business would have been approved to remodel a building and open up a business in it  if the proper environmental review (and any necessary remediation) had not been done.{you are kidding right?}

No need to worry, just drink up a pint of Schneider Aventinus and follow it with a shot of Jägermeister -- repeat a few times -- then you'll forget that it was ever a anything but a German beer garden.

perc....ever hear of it before?  

Down in NYC, an elementary school was allowed to open in a former dry cleaners, I kid you not.

The other Ken Cleaners in Scotia was converted into the new Scotia Diner.

Quoted from sanfordy2

perc....ever hear of it before?  

Yes, have you ever heard of it before?

The point that I was making. And, it was rather straightforward and understandable to reasonable person was that the Erie Boulevard KEM's was probably NOT the place where actual dry cleaning was done.  It was only a pickup and drop off location.  The actual dry cleaning plant for KEM's was at its State Street location. In that case, there was no possibility of dry cleaning chemical contaminating the Erie Boulevard KEM's location.

As for the allegations that the city would approve a restaurant or any business without following the proper review process, my response is -- prove it or you are just full of bull sh*t.  It is easy for any idiot and/or a**hole to make allegations and believe me, the nayboobs make all kinds of unfounded allegations.  So either put up the evidence to back up your allegations or shut up.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Yes, have you ever heard of it before?

The point that I was making. And, it was rather straightforward and understandable to reasonable person was that the Erie Boulevard KEM's was probably NOT the place where actual dry cleaning was done.  It was only a pickup and drop off location.  The actual dry cleaning plant for KEM's was at its State Street location. In that case, there was no possibility of dry cleaning chemical contaminating the Erie Boulevard KEM's location.

As for the allegations that the city would approve a restaurant or any business without following the proper review process, my response is -- prove it or you are just full of bull sh*t.  It is easy for any idiot and/or a**hole to make allegations and believe me, the nayboobs make all kinds of unfounded allegations.  So either put up the evidence to back up your allegations or shut up.

"It was only a pickup and drop off location" so...no possible residue whatsoever from years of cleaned product sitting around waiting to be picked up?

and gee...most likely i have heard of it from being exposed to it for so many years..im at the end of stage 4 kidney failure now....

can you do the math on why im skeptical?

edited to add; what allegations are you refereing to?

I thought there was no kitchen because it was on a dry cleaners.....vending food is portable

Quoted from sanfordy2

"It was only a pickup and drop off location" so...no possible residue whatsoever from years of cleaned product sitting around waiting to be picked up?

and gee...most likely i have heard of it from being exposed to it for so many years..im at the end of stage 4 kidney failure now....

can you do the math on why im skeptical?

edited to add; what allegations are you refereing to?

I hardly think that dry cleaning chemicals would be dripping off the clothes brought back from the dry cleaning plant to the pick up/drop off location.
  
Just look back at the 2nd post on the thread alleging that the place is full of dry cleaning chemicals and that somehow the proper procedures weren't followed to give it a clean bill of health environmentally.  No proof just allegations.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I hardly think that dry cleaning chemicals would be dripping off the clothes brought back from the dry cleaning plant to the pick up/drop off location.
  
Just look back at the 2nd post on the thread alleging that the place is full of dry cleaning chemicals and that somehow the proper procedures weren't followed to give it a clean bill of health environmentally.  No proof just allegations.

HERE IS THE 2ND POST REPEATED FOR YOUR BENEFIT!  PLEASE SHOW ME HOW I MADE AN
ALLEGATION THAT THE PLACE IS FULL OF CHEMICALS AS YOU CLAIM. SINCE I WROTE THE
POST, I KNOW I MADE NO ALLEGATIONS. I ASKED IF THERE WAS EPA CLEARANCE, ETC.
YOU ARE THE ONE THAT NOW HAS MADE AN ALLEGATION ABOUT MY POST THAT IS INNACURATE.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD CORRECT YOUR STATEMENT!!!!!!!!

Quoted from joebxr

Maybe I missed it, but a restaurant on top of a site that used to be a cleaners????
Did I miss the EPA study showing clear site?  usually the old cleaners are responsible
for dumping of chemicals (intentional or not) into the ground.  Unless I see a clean
bill of health from EPA, I would be hesitant to eat food that may glow in the dark!

Quoted from joebxr

HERE IS THE 2ND POST REPEATED FOR YOUR BENEFIT!  PLEASE SHOW ME HOW I MADE AN
ALLEGATION THAT THE PLACE IS FULL OF CHEMICALS AS YOU CLAIM. SINCE I WROTE THE
POST, I KNOW I MADE NO ALLEGATIONS. I ASKED IF THERE WAS EPA CLEARANCE, ETC.
YOU ARE THE ONE THAT NOW HAS MADE AN ALLEGATION ABOUT MY POST THAT IS INNACURATE.
MAYBE YOU SHOULD CORRECT YOUR STATEMENT!!!!!!!!

Provide the evidence that KEM's dumped chemicals into the ground there.  Provide evidence that before the city OKed the restaurant that it did not follow the process of making sure that the site was environmentally clean enough for a restaurant to operate there.   Finally, I doubt that the EPA would be called in -- State Environmental Conservation would have jurisdiction -- it isn't likely the site was on the Federal Super Fund list to be cleaned up.

I am confident that the city did its due diligence and that it is perfectly safe to eat and drink at the Biergarten.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Provide the evidence that KEM's dumped chemicals into the ground there.  Provide evidence that before the city OKed the restaurant that it did not follow the process of making sure that the site was environmentally clean enough for a restaurant to operate there.   Finally, I doubt that the EPA would be called in -- State Environmental Conservation would have jurisdiction -- it isn't likely the site was on the Federal Super Fund list to be cleaned up.

I am confident that the city did its due diligence and that it is perfectly safe to eat and drink at the Biergarten.

Quoted from joebxr

Maybe I missed it, but a restaurant on top of a site that used to be a cleaners????
Did I miss the EPA study showing clear site? usually the old cleaners are responsible
for dumping of chemicals (intentional or not) into the ground.  Unless I see a clean
bill of health from EPA, I would be hesitant to eat food that may glow in the dark!

TRY READING THE WORDS AGAIN!
(1) I did not say they DID dump chemicals!
(2) I did not say the city didn't do an environmental study!

So again, PLEASE CORRECT YOUR ACCUSATIONS ABOUT MY POST SINCE I DID
NOT ALLEGE THEY DUMPED CHEMICALS OR THAT IT WAS NOT CLEARED! Let me
explain it for you in more simple terms so maybe you can understand....I questioned
if a clear bill of health for the site exists because it was a cleaners, where many times
chemicals are found underground!  DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW!