Apr. 8—Since the public approved discontinuing Dickinson County’s law prohibiting liquor by the individual drink in the 2022 general election, Trevor and Lydia Witt and the investors of Rackets Tap House have continued full steam ahead with developing their project. With a building secured and renovations on the way, Trevor Witt hopes the business is running before the Central Kansas Free Fair begins in August.
“It’s really special seeing all these components to make this project work and happen because we want this to be a legacy business. I want to be old and gray and be drinking a beer on this porch,” Witt said.
As the project has developed, changes to the original plan were needed. One of the biggest is to only renovate a quarter of the building. Witt said they had to downsize the project because of the cost of construction. The building has one floor and a basement totaling 14,000 square feet.
“So that was about September when I realized we weren’t going to be able to do the whole building,” Witt said. “I felt really dumb to be totally honest. I was like ‘why did I do this’ because I was in so deep and spent so much money already with the professionals. After talking to a lot of people and a lot of prayer, I got this word of just, faithfully move forward, make the next step. The next step was, ‘well what if we just do a portion of the building.'”
The renovations will be to the northeast quarter of the building, the back patio next to Little Ike Park and a quarter of the basement where the northeast stairs are located. Despite downsizing, the business will still fit up to around 150 people, Witt said.
The entrance of the business will be on the patio.
Construction will start sometime this month.
The current plan is for the business to have a soft launch in July and be fully operational before the Central Kansas Free Fair begins.
“I would love to see the parade coming down here and be drinking a beer on this porch.”
The main service of the business will be a self-service tap wall. Witt said their system will be similar to the tap wall at the brewhouse The Farm and The Odd Fellows in Minneapolis, Kansas. The tap wall will have 12 taps total, 10 for beer and two of the taps for wine or cocktails. They will also provide a non-alcoholic option.
As part of the original plan, the business will not have a full kitchen, Witt said. They will offer snacks, charcuterie boards and appetizers to start out.
“We want everyone to continue to support these local restaurants, just come here afterwards for drinks. It’ll be the afterparty sort of spot,” he said.
The project received money from the Kansas Department of Commerce through the Historic Economic Asset Lifeline grant. Submitted by the Dickinson County Economic Development Corporation, their application earned the business a grant of $57,728.
“I wrote that grant. Credit to my high school English teacher here in Abilene,” Witt said.
Witt said the project is also utilizing the Community Foundation of Dickinson County’s impact investing loan program. All those funding sources plus 12 investors are kickstarting this project.
The building is not considered historical because of its current facade that was constructed during the 1970s, Witt said, which is why the project is not eligible for historic tax credits. Perhaps in three years, Witt said, the business can look at a full restoration of the facade of the building so that the building will be listed as a contributing building to the Abilene historical downtown district by the state.
Rackets Tap House is at 303 N. Broadway Street where the Duckwall’s Racket Store was located in the early 1900s until the ALCO store was built on North Buckeye, where Lumber House is now. The building was home to the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle between 1973 and March 2020.
“My very first job being a paperboy, I remember walking through that door over there picking up my stack of papers,” Witt said. “It’s just kind of crazy like, ‘oh, now I own this building.'”
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