Apostolos Sigalas has a vision for making old, unwanted buildings live again. As the CEO of West Liberty Financial, Sigalas has over 15 years of experience in retail bank financing for large residential, commercial, and business loans. His love of architecture, history, and business enables him to analyze all aspects of a property’s potential, and has driven him to venture into the development of Resto Bars, Dt Toronto Lofts, and build Contemporary style homes. His new passion – is purchasing old unused properties and redeveloping them into economically viable historic gems.

One of those gems is the former St. James Anglican Church in Downtown Ingersoll, Ontario, which has now been rebranded as “The Oxford”.  Sigalas  purchased the property in 2020 with the intent of converting it into a commercial space that would feature several new businesses, but the one busines that he truly believes would fit perfectly – is a Microbrewery.

Sigalas agreed to sit down with Brewers Journal to discuss his passion for old buildings and discuss the Oxford.

Brewers Journal: Great to meet you Apostolos! Thanks for joining us for this interview.

Apostolos Sigalas: My pleasure, great to meet you as well.

Brewers Journal: What inspired you to redevelop buildings?

Sigalas: I was really inspired after I spent some time in Europe, especially Italy and Greece. During my travels through the Italian countryside and Greek Islands, I continually saw old stone buildings which were at original built as churches, castles or even stables in small towns that were 100, 500, some maybe 1000 years old—but were recently re-purposed into restaurants, wineries, breweries, hotels and shops.

These buildings were drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists a year to these towns and creating a vibrant economy,  and all along I’m thinking, why can’t we do that?  We have great buildings like these in Canada.  Why aren’t we doing that? 

Brewers Journal: And you saw that the Oxford had the same potential?

Sigalas: I read an article a couple of years ago that due to the drastic decline in church attendance across Canada, an estimated 9,000 churches and other religious spaces would permanently close over the next decade.  The article resonated with me and over the next few months I would periodically search listings to see what Churches were for sale. Most were small wooden steeple churches in rural areas. But when I first saw the MLS Listing for St. James Church, I almost fell off my chair.  This building was around two centuries old, magnificently stone built, huge Church and Chapel, with a 60-foot tower.  It reminded me of the many medieval buildings I saw during my travels in the Tuscany Countryside and Florence. 

Brewers Journal: This is an impressive space. I was reading your website, The Oxford has three large unique rooms at over 3000 Sq. feet each, a Commercial Kitchen, Multiple Offices, Wine Cellars, 2 Loading Docks, Modern Furnace and Boiler system, and 38 Parking Spots.

Sigalas: Yes, that’s correct.  Not only is It a beautiful building, it is very functional.  Two of the rooms on the main floor are the Church and Parish which can easily be utilized for events, restaurants, and retail and with the fully operating Commercial Kitchen, you have a turn-key opportunity.  The third massive room is a full court basketball gym, which is directly below the Parish. It was when I saw the gym that I had the revelation that a  Microbrewery would fit perfectly in the Oxford.

Brewers Journal: Why is that?

Sigalas: The gym was large enough to house all the brewing systems needed for a Microbrewery. Which means you now have a trifecta of services to offer in one location— Production, Retail, and Restaurant/Events—and all under one roof of a beautiful 200-hundred-year-old stone building. 

The possibility for a Brewery who wants to elevate their brand by moving out the industrial unit and merging their business with a prestigious landmark property is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  If a Brewery wants to stand out from their competition, well, the Oxford will definitely do that.

I mean, there is nothing like it in Ontario, I don’t even think Canada.  Trust me, I have spent many late-night googling Breweries and Distilleries in Canada, and I haven’t seen anything that comes close to what the Oxford offers.

I truly believe that the Brewery who moves into the Oxford will become a tourist destination, just like in those towns I went to in Italy. How could it not?

Brewers Journal: It definitely sound like you have a great plan and vision, but the former church congregation has been active in the community since 1834. Was the church on board? Was the community okay with seeing this historic landmark change?

Sigalas: The Oxford has been part of the Ingersoll community for 185 years and is extremely important to the history of Southern Ontario. I mean people in the church congregation community built that church by hand, brick by brick, for no money, and all for the glory of God. So yes, in a situation like that where you are dealing with such an important historical property that involves people faith and memories, they are going to be protective and cautious who they will sell the building to—especially considering the Church was not designated officially as a historical landmark. So technically anyone who bought it, could tear it down and build midrise condos-which would be far more profitable than repurposing it – by at least a few million dollars – and the congregation could do nothing to stop it from happening. 

Brewers Journal: How do you convert a Church to a Commercial space?  Is it a complicated process?

Yes.  It is somewhat complicated with a lot of moving parts and obstacles that you would not encounter if you just bought a regular property.

First had to meet with the Church Board of Directors and explain my vision and how  by repurposing the Church we have an opportunity to save it, convince them that my intentions were authentic and viable, and have them agree to sell the property to me a reasonable price.

From there I had a series of meeting with  county planners, discuss my plan, gain their support for the project, hire architects and consultants to prepare my application to change the zoning from a church to commercial use, and then book a date for the application to be review at the Town Council. This process takes about 6 months and at a considerable cost and risk.  Meaning, if the Council declines the application, then the project does not move forward and I would have lost around $50,000.

Lastly, in order to be approved for the zoning change, I had to present my application to the Town Council. and again explain why I think that a microbrewery would easily fit into the building without jeopardizing it’s exterior, and that it would also create new jobs and become huge economic benefit to the downtown core

Brewers Journal: So I guess it’s fair to say in hindsight that it was a positive process, but were there any concerns at the council meeting.

Sigalas   Well, when I arrived to the Council meeting to present my application – the was packed with people, and I mean packed.  The room sat about 40 people, and they actually had to bring in about 30 extra chairs to accommodate everyone, which I was told never really happened.

But there wasn’t a lot of pushback, it was just a lot of townspeople asking questions and just wanted to understand what my intentions were.  There were some questions about parking and noise, which I addressed.  But by the end of my presentation, everyone was on board.  The council voted unanimously for it.

Brewers Journal: How has the COVID shutdown affected your plans?

Sigalas:  Well, we purchased the property on March 3, 2020 – right when the pandemic started. Initially, it did really affect our plans.

For the first two months we had to complete some renovations to the property like removing some offices to open up the Parish space and “De-Churchifying” the building.  Which is a word I made up that means we had to remove all religious symbols from the property—like replacing the windows, priming the walls, taking out 80 pews. Things like that.  We wanted to create a blank canvas interior so prospective business could easily imagine how they could work the space. 

When we completed the work and were ready to list the Oxford for lease or sale, we had to get very creative to attract attention—since we were in a full-blown shutdown.

Brewers Journal: What do you mean by Creative?

Sigalas: Well, I felt that due to the pandemic and the economic uncertainty, Brewery owners would be hesitant to expand into a new space and invest hundreds of thousands of dollars into a moving and construction costs.  Considering my company arranges commercial loans and business financing for exactly this reason, I thought a great way to incentivize a Brewery to move into the Oxford is to have the financing in place and made available to them—which save them the trouble and time. 

So I arranged over $1.2 Million in Government Grants and Low interest loans to be made available prospective tenants and show that the town and county are in support of a Microbrewery moving into the Oxford. Something like this hasn’t really been done before in the world of commercial leasing, so that’s what I meant be creative.

Brewers Journal: That’s a lot of money, how does it work and how has the response been?

Sigalas: I can’t remember the exact breakdown right now for the grants and loans, all the info is on the website—but it’s something like $40,000 in town grants and loans to renovate the Façade, $50,000 in Property Tax Rebates—which is huge. Another $350,000 in Government low interest loans for moving cost, leaseholds, and equipment.

It is really is a phenomenal opportunity. 

When we got permission to allow showings and tours again in December 2020, we immediately re-listed the Oxford for Lease/Sale and advertised the $1.2 Million in financing available. The response has been amazing so far, with a handful of showing a week from serious prospects.  That’s much more than I expected considering the holidays, the cold January and February we had, and the Covid shutdown. 

Brewers Journal: That seems very encouraging. What has been the feedback so far?

Sigalas:  Very positive.  People who are in the event, restaurant, and brewery business immediately see the Oxford’s potential. I don’t have to explain it to them, they see it and they get it.

However, a few prospects said the Oxford is “Covid-Protocol Friendly”.  Which is a term I never heard before or even considered. Basically, it means that the event and restaurant spaces are so large in the Oxford, that tables can be set up 6-feet apart from each other and you can easily serve 80 to 100 people and still comply with the Covid social distancing guidelines.  This is obviously a huge benefit.  It’s a new world with new consideration—and business need to adapt quickly.