Century-Old Indy Building Getting Makeover

A longstanding building on the near east side of Indianapolis will soon have new life. Indianapolis-based TSV Properties is partnering with Hotel Tango Artisan Distillery to redevelop the Tinker House building for office and commercial use.

Hotel Tango says it will have production space on the first floor and event space on the second. Brian Willsey, co-founder of Hotel Tango, says the space will be able to accommodate a wide variety of events with as many as 250 guests.

"We have been doing a lot of events, everything from corporate happy hours to private weddings and receptions. One of the challenges is that we have to close down and that doesn’t allow us to bring all the people that want to visit our space into when they want to be here," said Willsey. "Now we’re going to be able to stay open longer during the week without closed events, but then still provide those one of a kind events at our new space."

Willsey also added the second location will allow Hotel Tango to expand its production capacity nearly four fold, which means increased efficiency as well as lower costs.

"This will help us work with some of our new distribution networks in Indiana and the doughnut states, along with our new distribution area in Texas that we are about ready to launch. It’s going to be a huge help."

The distillery’s original location on Virginia Avenue in Indianapolis will remain open, operating under the same hours, seven days a week.

"We are thrilled to be a part of the Tinker House development with TSV Properties and eager to be part of the emerging 16th Street corridor," said Travis Barnes, founder of Hotel Tango.

When finished, Tinker House will also feature more than 6,500 square feet of office space on the third floor, which is part of the 20,000 square feet of commercial space. TSV says street-level uses could include a neighborhood cafe.

TSV says construction is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Hotel Tango Artisan Distillery will celebrate its two year anniversary since opening in 2014 next week.