Trek Winery Turned Down in Latest Attempt to Open in Old Town

A Novato winemaker’s dream of opening a tasting room, barrel storage barn and a fun place for grape-crushing parties and other events remains in limbo after the Novato City Council decided against selling a city-owned bungalow in the Old Town area.

Andy Podshadley, the Novato native who owns Trek Winery, said he was disappointed to hear that the council decided in closed session Feb. 7 to not sell him the former city office buildings at 900 and 908 Sherman Ave. He had previously investigated the idea of buying an old home at 1016 Machin Ave. a few blocks a way, but that deal has been in limbo as well.

“I’m going to give it one last try,” Podshadley said. “Coming this March, it will be the start of my third year of trying to do this. … I still have open for Novato and still have people really rooting for us to be in Novato, and I hate to let them down.”

Ron Gerber, director of the Novato Redevelopment Agency, has been working to drum up interest in several Old Town buildings since the Novato City Council asked city staff to look into selling them. Two of the buildings were the Sherman Avenue bungalows that served as city office space before 2004 when the fire marshal red-tagged the cluster of buildings and deemed them unsafe. Since then the city has operated out of a leased building at 75 Rowland Way not far from Novato Community Hospital.

Gerber said the majority of the council did not want to accept Podshadley’s proposal, but that doesn’t mean all deals are off.

“We think there are some other interesting opportunities in Old Town that can make sense, and I think it would fit his needs as well as downtown’s needs,” Gerber said. “We’re going to continue to work with him.”

Councilwoman Carole Dillon-Knutson said she is excited about the idea of having a tasting room in the Old Town area but that more community feedback is needed before a deal is ironed out.

“Part of the problems is that we’ve never had a public meeting to develop a mission for Sherman Avenue,” she said. “That needs to be done before we take a look at a specific proposal like this. I think ideas should be coming from the community as to what people want down there.”

Dillon-Knutson said she understands that private negotiations on the sale of buildings need to take place in closed sessions, but not visionary discussions that have long-lasting effects on the makeup of Old Town.

“To make a decision in closed session that affects the neighborhood so much is just not a good idea, not the way I want to see things done,” she said. “That’s what we used to do and it made me upset.”

Podshadley’s plan for the Sherman location was for a tasting room and a barn where barrels could be stored. He said the crushing of grapes and fermentation could take place elsewhere in Novato but the barrel aging would be best for the same location as the tastings.

“I think it would be fun to have grape-crushing contests and other events in that kind of atmosphere,” he said. “At least that’s what I’ve envisioned.”

Councilwoman Jeanne MacLeamy said having Trek in Old Town "would be a tremendous asset" but that there are a lot of issues going on with that sector of the downtown area right now. The future home of city administrative offices is being debated now with the possibility that Sherman properties could be involved in a larger civic center area, potentially even closed off to vehicular traffic.

"It would be fabulous to have it downtown, but it's a question of finding the appropriate spot," MacLeamy said. "It would be great to let a little bit of the dust settled so we know more clearly what's going on."

Podshadley started pursuing 1016 Machin Ave. several years ago to create a tasting room, office space, a retail shop and a barrel storage area. The 6,500-square-foot parcel that borders Scown Lane is still a possibility, he said. Right now Trek is temporarily based at another winery in Sonoma and the office is out of Podshadley’s home, but he said he is looking for some warehouse space in another part of Novato.

He described the situation at the Machin site as “a banking mess.” According to Podshadley, the property went on the auction block for $471,000 but there were no takers. A bank holding the lien decided to give it back to the owners, but unpaid taxes and back fees make the price higher than the property is worth and not a viable option for him to buy at the asking price, he said.

“We will wait and see if that goes into foreclosure, which is what we’d like,” he said. “We’re willing to pay for it, it’s just that it got really expensive because of all those  tax and back fees.”

One way or another, Podshadley sees his business based out of a quaint, rustic place rather than a warehouse or any other building with less character. Making Trek Winery a destination is part of the plan, and other downtown businesses have lent him support. Several years ago, he went from business to business on the Old Town portion of Grant Avenue (east of Redwood Boulevard) and “100 percent of them said they were in favor” of having Trek be in the downtown area.

“I’ve lived here 48 years and hate to abandon this,” he said. “After talking to people about (the council’s decision), people are saying, ‘Hang in there a little longer.’ That’s why we’re going to look into one more college try.”