Chambers buys up brew pub.

Byline: CHRISTIAN WIHTOL Register-Guard Business Editor

SPRINGFIELD - Eugene businesswoman Carolyn Chambers is brewing another property deal in the Gateway area.

Chambers late last month bought the shuttered Tuscany's brew pub - formerly Spencer's - in Springfield's Gateway area. The purchase continues a Springfield shopping spree for Chambers. She's in the midst of buying 22 vacant acres at the north edge of Gateway; earlier this year she bought the Island Park office complex and neighboring buildings near the city's downtown; and she's developing three vacant commercial acres in Gateway for a private college and other office uses.

Just what Chambers has in mind for the Tuscany building on Kruse Way is not clear. She didn't return a call from The Register-Guard seeking comment.

But whether the brew pub - Springfield's first and only such establishment - will even exist in a few years is uncertain. That's because under the Belt Line Road/Interstate 5 interchange expansion being proposed by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the lot would be bulldozed to widen Kruse Way and improve traffic flow between Gateway Street and Belt Line.

Spencer's was built in 1994 by Springfield real estate developer Richard Boyles and Eugene restaurateur David Andrews as the brew pub craze swept Lane County and the Pacific Northwest.

But business at Spencer's eventually tapered off, and last year, Boyles and Andrews converted it to an Italian dining theme - Tuscany's Ristorante and Pizzeria - plus brew pub.

"We tried to reposition it," Boyles said. Spencer's "wasn't doing particularly well. We felt the brew pub thing has kind of run its course," he said.

Andrews died of a heart attack in January, leaving Tuscany's leaderless, and Boyles said he closed the business three weeks later.

Boyles said he's selling the property because he wants to focus on what he knows best: real estate development and hotels.

Plus, he said, a wave of new dining outlets in Gateway has made the industry brutal. Outback Steakhouse and the Original Roadhouse Grill now compete directly for the same customers Tuscany's and Spencer's courted, Boyles said. Plus, the area has attracted other food outlets - Quizno's Classic Subs and Schlotzsky's Deli, for example.

"That pie has got carved a lot of different ways," Boyles said.

Nationwide, the brew pub niche is in decline, Boyles added.

Locally, the brew pub sector remains crowded, with three McMenamins outlets, Steelhead Brewery, the Wild Duck Brewery, West Bros. BBQ and others.

It cost about $1 million to construct the Spencer's building and furnish it with beer-making equipment.

Boyles sold the land and building to Chambers for $790,000, according to a deed filed with Lane County.

The interior improvements, including the brewing gear, were sold to Chambers separately for an undisclosed sum.

In its plans for expanding the Belt Line/I-5 road system, ODOT offers three alternatives for widening Kruse Way.

All three would displace the building, according to the environmental impact statement ODOT released last month.

Chambers is no stranger to the alcoholic beverage business. She owns Silvan Ridge/Hinman Vineyards southwest of Eugene. Chambers' daughter, Liz Chambers, is general manager. Silvan Ridge/Hinman makes and markets wines and runs a tasting room where it plays host to catered events.

CAPTION(S):

CHRIS PIETSCH / The Register-Guard Tuscany's Ristorante, formerly Spencer's, located off Gateway Street in Springfield, has been purchased by Carolyn Chambers. STEPHANIE BARROW / The Register-Guard