By Edmond Ortiz
Many residents of a South Side neighborhood are wondering about a local company’s rezoning request and vision for a former brewery site, which includes possibly turning the building into a hub for fuel research.
What is happening
Headquartered in north central San Antonio, VP Racing Fuels is under contract to buy the former Freetail Brewing Co. facility at 2000 S. Presa St.
Freetail, a local beer producer, operated a 28,628-square-foot South Side brewhouse and taproom on a 1.82-acre lot for about 10 years until 2025 when the company decided to cease operations on South Presa and put the structure up for sale.
When word about VP Racing Fuels’ building purchase and rezoning request began spreading through the surrounding community, several residents started posing questions to the company and the city.
More than 40 people attended a June 18 Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association meeting, which featured Ben Dolan, VP’s vice president for marketing and product management, and Mark Walls, VP’s research and development director.
VP is known mainly for its production of fuels, lubricants, additives and coolants for the auto racing community. But the company is also expanding its line of brand apparel and merchandise.
Additionally, VP wants to capitalize on the former brewery’s structural capabilities by distilling alcoholic spirits for public consumption.
The property is currently zoned IDZ-2 (Infill Development Zone), a medium intensity infill spot that allows rezoning requests up to 50 units per acre, and C-2 (Commercial District) uses, such as beer brewing, warehousing, and a machine shop.
VP Racing Fuels wants to maintain the rezoning designation, allow continued brewing and warehousing operations, and permit additional uses, such as large engines for fuel research and tests, and large-scale printing of merchandise and apparel.
What they are saying
It is the potential of using large engineers for fuel research and testing at the former brewery site that has piqued the curiosity of many neighbors. Other residents are asking questions about noise, the number of employees, traffic, and whether VP’s proposed complex could pose any public health hazards.
Walls and Dolan insist that, if approved, VP will make few noticeable changes to the building’s exterior, and will have elements in place to ensure operations inside the facility have few if any effects on neighbors.
Dolan and Walls added that the company is adhering to a range of green initiatives designed to result in minimal environmental impacts from its operations, products and facilities.
The building’s warehousing functions would cover everything from raw materials for distilling to merchandise and apparel for industry conferences and events, according to Walls and Dolan.
In response to residents’ questions about on-site fuel storage, Dolan said on any given work day, employees would have only the amount of fuel on site that is needed for testing. Ingredients for fuel processing and storage are held at a separate VP facility elsewhere.
“We’re trying to be responsible about how we’re running these engines with the applications, and then certainly about limiting the amount (of emissions),” Dolan said.
What’s next?
City Zoning Commission Chair John Bustamante, who also represents the affected area, sought to answer residents’ questions about the zoning process. He said at the time of the meeting that he had just begun to review VP’s rezoning request, and it is not clear when the company’s plan will go before the zoning commission.
Whatever recommendation that the zoning commission makes must go to the City Council for consideration.
