Iron Smoke Distillery Buys Fairport Building, Plans $3 Million Upgrade

October 15, 2026

Exterior of Iron Smoke Distillery in the former American Can Co. complex on Parce Avenue in Fairport, New York | Westside Construction Group

Iron Smoke Distillery has bought the Fairport building it has leased since 2014, paying $1.75 million for about 20,000 square feet at 111 Parce Avenue, and plans a total investment of $3 million that includes renovating its manufacturing space to modernize operations and raise production capacity Rochester Beacon.

What Happened

The purchase closed on October 1, according to Monroe County property records, with the distillery acquiring the space through an entity named 59 Parce Ave Fairport LLC Rochester Beacon. The seller was American Park Place LLC, which owns the roughly 400,000-square-foot former American Can Co. complex where the distillery operates Rochester Business Journal.

Iron Smoke, known for applewood-smoked bourbon, was founded in 2011 and has run its distilling and retail operations at the Parce Avenue site since 2014 Rochester Business Journal. "Today, we're buying the building we call home," said CEO and co-founder Tommy Brunett Rochester Beacon.

The Investment and Incentives

The building purchase is part of the planned $3 million investment, which includes upgrades to the manufacturing space Rochester Business Journal. A construction timeline has not been released Rochester Beacon. The company has 18 employees and expects to add six Rochester Business Journal.

The Fairport Office of Community and Economic Development (OCED) helped the company secure sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions and a property tax abatement Rochester Business Journal. The value and length of those benefits were not disclosed Rochester Beacon.

This is not the village's first role in the company's growth. In 2014, the Fairport Local Development Corp. provided a low-interest loan toward an $850,000 project, and in 2018 the same agency loaned $150,000 toward a $380,000 equipment purchase, with additional help from the Monroe County Industrial Development Corp. Fairport's development office says the distillery's employment nearly tripled after those investments Rochester Beacon.

Industry Context

The move comes during a soft stretch for craft spirits. Citing the American Craft Spirits Association, the Rochester Beacon reports that craft spirits sales fell for a third straight year in 2025, with volume down 8 percent and value down 3.7 percent to $7.3 billion. The number of active craft distillers fell 6.6 percent year over year to 2,131 as of August 2026, and closures outnumbered openings for the first time Rochester Beacon.

Co-owner and COO Ron Kirshner credited lean manufacturing and simplified operations with reducing the company's burn rate as national spirits demand has declined over the past five or more years Rochester Business Journal. Direct-to-consumer sales at distilleries have grown from 14 percent of craft spirits sales in 2015 to 26 percent in 2025, which raises the value of an owned, visitor-friendly production site Rochester Beacon.

The Building

The American Can Co. complex dates to the 19th century. It began as a shoe factory, housed other manufacturers and later became a can plant before closing in the late 1980s Rochester Beacon. The neighborhood has seen steady reinvestment, including The Cannery mixed-use development in a nearby former industrial building, and more than $40 million in private investment in Fairport between 2015 and 2020 Rochester Beacon. The Beacon notes that the purchase does not resolve a separate, ongoing code enforcement case between the Village of Fairport and the complex owner Rochester Beacon.

Implications for Owners, Developers, Contractors and Subs

Food and beverage renovations in older buildings. Upgrading production space inside a 19th-century industrial complex typically involves structural, fire protection, ventilation and utility work sized to process equipment. Contractors with food and beverage and adaptive reuse experience are best suited for this kind of scope.
Ownership changes the capital math. Owners who buy their facility can justify permanent improvements that tenants often defer, which tends to unlock interior build-out and equipment installation projects.
Local incentives still matter for small manufacturers. Sales tax, mortgage recording tax and property tax relief through local development offices continue to support modest manufacturing projects in Monroe County.
Phasing around live operations. A working distillery with retail and visitor traffic will need renovation work phased to keep production running.

What to Watch

Watch for the company to release a schedule and scope for the manufacturing upgrades, and for any permit filings in the Village of Fairport. The company also plans a 15th anniversary celebration on October 28 Rochester Beacon.

Bottom Line

Iron Smoke is converting a long-term lease into ownership and pairing it with a $3 million plan to modernize production. It is a small project by regional standards, but it is the kind of owner-occupied manufacturing investment that keeps renovation and fit-out work moving in the Rochester area.

Image credit: Photo provided by the Fairport Office of Community and Economic Development, via Rochester Business Journal. Image from the source article.