Historic building in heart of Hinckley being reinvented as Binky Commons

by Erica Peterson

Karl Kastl III and Tom Vanover have a vision for the vacant 1840s-era building they bought in the middle of town: a mixed-use residential and commercial project called Binky Commons.

Named after the iconic cartoon “Binky the Buzzard,” created by Kastl’s father, Binky Commons at Route 303 and Ridge Road will include three apartments and space for commercial tenants appropriate for the heart of Hinckley, Vanover said.

“As long as I own this building, it will not be a head shop again,” he said.

Signage for the project includes the cartoon buzzard.

Kastl said he had long thought about doing something with the historic building. “Every time I would drive by and see it empty, I would get frustrated,” he said. “How can you let something like that go?”

“We bought it because we couldn’t not buy it,” Vanover said.

Both he and Kastl have fond childhood memories of the beverage store owned and operated by the Ave family in the building from 1974-1998. Their fathers were friends, and both remember stopping at the store regularly.

They are not alone.

“Everyone who comes in here, the first thing they remember is the floor,” Kastl said.

The friends hope to preserve those architectural features and the character of the building, restoring as much as they can, as they renovate the space to be comfortable for modern-day tenants.

Creating a complex

The original building includes several additions, Vanover said, one on the back of the building dating from around 1870 that was mainly used for storage. The area that houses Hinckley’s Coffee and Donuts was added between 1930-1940, he said.

They are doing much of the work themselves. Kastl is president and CEO of Vent Heating and Cooling, and Vanover is chief building official of the city of Cleveland.

Vanover, a carpenter by trade, is fascinated by the post and beam construction and other details he sees as they strip away the walls. “This is stuff I’ve just seen in books,” he said. “It’s all mortise and tenon joints.”

The two work in the building for hours on the weekends. It’s a labor of love, Vanover said, and they hope to have the apartments ready by Sept. 1. Two of the apartments will be on the second floor, and one at the back of the building on the first floor.

The commercial space will be next.

“The goal is to have multiple businesses in the same complex that offer lots of different choices,” Vanover said.

“We can renovate the space to meet the needs of the renter,” Kastl said, creating separate areas if need be.

They plan to rebuild a pizza oven that can hold up to 24 pizzas, Kastl said.

There are plans to renovate the exterior as well.

Eventually, they plan to work on the rest of the 3-acre property that extends behind the main building along Route 303 and includes a barn. Vanover said they’d like to add parking and convert the barn into an entertainment venue for weddings and other celebrations.

They’d also like to introduce programming like food truck events and other festivals.

“We really want to activate that corner,” Vanover said.

Historic finds

As they work, Kastl and Vanover get constant reminders of the age of the building and its several incarnations over the last 150 years, which included a general store, a feed store and a soda fountain. The two continue to find treasures, unearthing artifacts from cracks and crevices.

So far, they’ve found a sign that reads Clyde Brown, who was the second owner of the building, and part of a sugar barrel that was used as a shim. They discovered a cache of old bottles in the wall, as well as a lathe hammer estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old.

A tin that reads “National Biscuit Company,” the former name of Nabisco, is probably older than 1950. The National Biscuit Co. was formed in 1898, and the company started going by Nabisco in the 1940s.

One of the most exciting finds to Vanover is what looks like a piece of a political campaign card from 1932. It reads, “For Recorder, Laura L. Eaken, LaFayette, Republican Primary, Tuesday, May 10, 1932.” It was stuffed in a rafter, with a measurement written on the other side of the card.

Kastl and Vanover are displaying their finds in the building, showing them off to visitors.

For more information about Binky Commons, visit @BinkyCommons2019 on Facebook.

Featured image photo caption: Tom Vanover (l) and Karl Kastl III are hard at work renovating the old general store at Route 303 and Ridge Road. They plan to transform it into Binky Commons, a mixed-use complex with apartments and commercial tenants. The name honors the iconic cartoon buzzard created by Kastl’s father. Photo by E. Peterson