Block 15 to open in the old Headline Cafe site

When Nick Arzner moved to Corvallis about five years ago, he wondered why there wasn’t a local independent brewpub, and he always figured one would come into the beer-savvy town.

Turns out he was right. Only thing is, he’ll be one of the owners.

For the last nine months, the 28-year-old Arzner and his wife, Kristen, 25, have spent almost every day obtaining permits, purchasing equipment such as fermentation tanks and doing extensive renovations at the highly visible corner of Southwest Jefferson Avenue and Third Street.

In late January or early February, Block 15 Restaurant & Brewery should open, they said.

“We’re just doing all the finishing work. … We’ll start brewing beer in the middle of January,” Nick Arzner said.

Transforming the space and starting the restaurant and brewery will cost $400,000 to $500,000, he added.

The couple envisions having six standard brews on tap, rotating Belgian-style beer and wheat beer varieties, as well as seasonals. There will also be a house root beer. The emphasis on the casual menu will be local ingredients, and local ingredients also will be in the beer.

The beers will be made by Steve Van Rossem, 49, a former brewer for West Brothers Brewery in Eugene, where he made a stout that won a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival. Van Rossem also brewed for McMenamins High Street Brewery & Cafe in Eugene.

“He does have a reputation,” said Joel Rea, owner of Corvallis Brewing Supply.

Corvallis has the Oregon Trail Brewery, though there’s no pub attached, and the McMenamins chain makes beer at its Northwest Monroe Avenue location.

But this town has been ripe for a real homegrown brewpub for many years, Rea said.

“It’s way past its time. It will succeed,” he said. “There’s no shortage of good beer in this town. What people are really kind of drawn to is the process of beer-making and having a beer that’s made at the point.”

Rea said that unique beers will bring tourists to Corvallis.

The business’s name comes from an old plat map of Marysville, which had 300 S.W. Jefferson Ave. in block 15.

The spot is the former site of the End Zone. Before that it was the Headline Cafe, which made headlines in November 2004 when an underage Oregon State football player at the bar assaulted a National Guardsman on leave from Iraq.

The Arzners said their business will have a different, more family-friendly vibe than the former nightspot.