West Fork inks partnership with homebuilder to expand Westfield campus
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West Fork Whiskey Co. announced plans Friday to partner with Columbus, Ohio-based homebuilder M/I Homes Inc. to develop a new housing and entertainment district surrounding its distillery in Westfield.
The West Fork District plan calls for as many as 150 townhomes, along with a whiskey-aging warehouse, a pond, an outdoor concert venue, dog park and various other neighborhood amenities, as well as future commercial development.
The development would encompass 12 to 18 acres at the northeast corner of 191st Street and Horton Road, just north of the Grand Park Sports Campus, wrapping around the West Fork property, which opened in 2022.
The plans for the project come as West Fork nears the second anniversary of its operations in Westfield. The company spent $11 million to open a 35,000-square-foot facility featuring The Mash House restaurant, a cocktail lounge, a 5,000-square-foot event center, an education facility and production equipment that debuted in August 2022.
The latest development was quietly introduced to members of Westfield City Council this week. Officials with M/I and West Fork said they expect to have multiple hearings with the Westfield Advisory Plan Commission before returning to council for a final decision sometime in the spring or early summer. They expect to break ground on the project later this year, pending approval.
“One thing that I know to be true about Westfield and its community is they really want to be business friendly,” said West Fork Whiskey co-founder and co-CEO Blake Jones. “They want to create a great community. So, we’re working with the counselors, planners and the mayor to create the best project that we can. When you do something new, there’s going to be some ups and downs through the process, and that’s OK. But, so far, it’s been great to work with the city.”
A development cost for the townhome portion of the project has not been finalized, but the investment is expected to be “substantial,” Keith Blais, director of land for M/I Homes, told IBJ.
“This is an exciting opportunity,” Blais said. “Being part of an entertainment and agro-tourism venue like what West Fork has there, it brings … a great amenity to residents of the neighborhood and Westfield. This project capitalizes on the city’s vision for 191st Street and what they want to accomplish, while also giving the area a high-visibility project that adds to the community.”
Blais said the three-story, for-sale townhomes are inspired in their design by the modern farmhouse-style of West Fork distillery. Pricing is expected to start around $360,000, with units featuring anywhere from 1,700 square feet to 2,200 square feet. The units will vary from two to three bedrooms, with each featuring a two-car attached garage.
The company plans to build a few sets of townhomes and sell those before investing in additional construction. Blais did not have a firm timeline for when initial construction might be completed. M/I Homes has 14 communities in central Indiana, including the Bonterra townhouse property in Westfield. It also has developed properties in Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, Michigan, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas.
M/I Homes will initially own its portion of the project before selling the units to individual buyers, while West Fork will contribute funds to the neighborhood amenities. Those are expected to include the pond and amphitheater, along with a dog park, walking paths, fire pits and an aging facility for educational purposes and bourbon production.
A former banker, Jones and his brother Julian partnered with attorney David McIntyre to start West Fork Whiskey in a warehouse at West 86th Street and Zionsville Road in Indianapolis in 2014. They moved operations three years later to a renovated former grocery store at Bellefontaine and East 16th streets in the Kennedy King neighborhood, which continues to operate as a tasting room.
In January, the craft distillery inked a separate deal with an investment firm to secure up to $18 million in capital, allowing for expanded production and accelerated growth. That partnership with Indianapolis-based Ouabache Investments involved an initial investment of $3 million that could grow to support more production contracts and additional real estate development to accommodate increased production. West Fork hopes to grow into a regionally and nationally recognized brand.
Jones said discussions are still ongoing about what the growth of its own footprint on the campus might look like, and how it could incorporate additional commercial uses in to the West Fork District, which would come as part of a third phase for the project.
“The whole point of this thing is to create a community hub—that’s the whole theme of it,” he said. “It’s not just the townhomes, because while those are cool, it’s really about creating a cohesive nature and a nice livable entertainment district.”
M/I Homes is using an in-house architect to design the townhouse portion of the project.