Your next hike at Oak Openings could end with a cold beer or a hot coffee — inside the park itself.

Metroparks Toledo’s Board of Park Commissioners today approved a three-year lease agreement that will bring a nano brewery and coffeehouse to the Beach Ridge Area of Oak Openings Preserve. HEAVY Beer Company and Black Kite Coffee will operate the new spot in the Wheelhouse, a renovated barn on State Route 64 in Swanton.

It will be the first food and beverage operation in any Metroparks Toledo park.

The new business, called HEAVY Wheelhouse, will serve coffee from Black Kite Coffee along with food and craft beer from HEAVY’s small onsite brewery. Metroparks-branded merchandise will also be sold. The business is expected to open later this year.

The spot is built for the crowds already coming to Beach Ridge. The Wheelhouse sits next to the Cannaley Treehouse Village, and the new brewery and coffeehouse will give treehouse guests — and everyone else visiting the largest Metropark — a gathering place they have never had before.

There is a deal behind the drinks, too. Under the agreement, Metroparks and HEAVY will share the net profits from food and beverage sales, and that money will go toward the perpetual care of the treehouse village, trails and other facilities.

Beach Ridge is a nearly 500-acre addition to Oak Openings Preserve. More than 80 percent of the property is dedicated to habitat conservation and restoration, and the area is also the trailhead for the popular 12-mile Beach Ridge Singletrack trail and a mountain-bike skills course.

Metroparks will make the permanent improvements to the Wheelhouse, including utilities, which will also allow for expanded rental and usage options in the future. HEAVY is paying for the equipment and fixtures specific to its food service operation.

While this is the first food and beverage operation at Metroparks Toledo, other park systems in Ohio already operate restaurants, golf courses, clubhouses and snack bars for their visitors. Metroparks is also currently exploring potential operators for a restaurant that will be part of Phase 2 of Glass City Metropark.

So the next time you hit the trails at Oak Openings, you may not have to leave the park to grab a beer or a coffee. For the first time ever, the park is coming to you.

Oak Openings Preserve. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Source: Metroparks Toledo