Categories: Business, News

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.