Kettering bar with rich history heads to the auction block

A property near the Kettering-Dayton border that has housed a bar as far back as the 1990s, and a pizza parlor before that, is being auctioned online. And the bar right next door to it has sold.

The one-acre property and 4,300-square-foot structure at 2335 S. Smithville Road destined for auction most recently housed the Van Buren Tap Room & Grille, which operated there for about two years, from 2012 to 2014. It has been vacant since.

But the bar had a long run of more than a decade, from the late 1990s through April 2012, as Cadillac Jack’s Sports Bar & Grill. And in decades past, it was a Village Inn Pizza Parlor, according to some of our sharp-eyed readers who have sharp memories.

BREAKING UPDATE: Mugshots, the bar next door to this property, has been sold, its owner says.

When it morphed into the Van Buren Tap Room, its owner’s son told me said the then-new beer bar would offer 14 beers on tap as well as pool tables, dart boards and 36 televisions. Extensive renovations at the time included new carpet, new tile, a fresh paint job, updated equipment and a new system for the draft beers. The bar seated 93.

The online auction will close at noon on April 26, according to the auction notice at ohiosheriffsales.com. Bidding starts at $198,000.

RELATED: Trouble signs for Kettering sports bar

Here’s how the auction site describes the former Van Buren Tap Room property:

“This long time restaurant-bar location in Kettering is highly visible, with entrances on both Smithville Road and Wilmington Pike. … It could be converted for any type of retail, restaurant or office use. The location is perfect for a national tenant looking for a strong retail presence in a high-traffic market area, with a three-mile (radius) population of 112,330.”

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