Warehouse Gourmet launches expansion with art gallery, event venue

When Keith Stambaugh bought a dilapidated ribbon factory on a small, nondescript street in downtown Hanover, the year was 1996, and few – not even himself – could imagine what it would someday become.

In the three decades that have followed, the unassuming building has become a destination for gourmet dining and craft brews – the Warehouse Gourmet Bistro & Brewpub – and now, in 2025, is adding an event space and art gallery.

On Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, Keith and his wife, Melinda Stambaugh, held a ribbon cutting for the latest expansion to their business, a dedicated event venue and art gallery in a newly built building beside their historic ‘warehouse’ restaurant.

29 years in the making

Keith, a professional painter raised in the Pigeon Hills near Spring Grove, recalls riding his bike through Hanover and seeing a decrepit, abandoned warehouse that sat downtown at 7 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“I would just gaze and be like, man, I would love to have a place like that,” Keith recalls.

As time went on, the warehouse went up for sale, and Keith purchased it to use as his residence – and as his studio, the ‘Screaming Peacock art studio,’ where he could paint 25-foot backgrounds for photographers.

Eventually, Keith met a woman – Melinda – at the now-shuttered and beloved Hanover watering hole, Kclinger’s Tavern. The pair quickly became friends, with Melinda helping Keith on a brochure for a group gallery show in New York City’s trendy SoHo art scene.

During those conversations, Melinda, a graduate of hospitality management – shared her dreams of owning a restaurant. “Well, you should see where I live,” Keith recalls telling her of his unique warehouse residence and how it could make a unique setting for a restaurant.

Keith, too, had a dream – ever since he became an artist, he had wanted to own his own art gallery.

The pair married in 2002 – and the rest is history: in 2005, Melinda began operating the “Warehouse Gourmet Catering Company” out of the namesake warehouse, which grew a following for her gourmet cooking.

Soon, the pair would be inspired by their dedicated customers to see Melinda’s dreams of owning a restaurant come true: in 2010, “The Warehouse Gourmet Bistro & Catering Company” joined the culinary scene of downtown Hanover.

At the time, Pennsylvania Avenue wasn’t much of an “avenue” – instead it was an open, barren parking lot with cracked asphalt – there were no curbs, no sidewalks, no designated parking spaces, and, as Keith notes, there was a telephone pole in the middle of the roadway.

The couple helped secure a block grant – which revitalized the block and even added a municipal public parking lot to the street.

Within just two years, the business continued to grow – and soon, after an extensive project of planning and permitting, the Stambaughs opened downtown Hanover’s first brewery and brewpub in 2012, converting Keith’s studio into a brewery space in the building.

By then, what had started as a dilapidated warehouse on a tiny one-block side street in downtown Hanover had become a destination for gourmet foods and craft brews, and marked the first wave in a series of new breweries and businesses that would flood into Hanover’s downtown.

Event Gallery at The Warehouse

The Stambaughs expanded their catering and dining business into the brewery scene, and made an established name for their business, but they weren’t finished.

Over the years, the business began growing too large for their small property, including Keith losing his art studio in the property as the business expanded.

“I’ve been catering all over the countryside,” said Melinda. “When I was 35 it was fun carting chafing dishes around feeding 150 people in tents.”

“But now that I’m older, I was like, it would be really nice to have a smaller catering venue here on site,” Melinda recalled.

“It kind of got to the point where we had to do something,” said Keith.

Then, the perfect opportunity happened: an adjacent property to theirs went up for sale.

“There’s an old saying,” said Keith, “you only get one opportunity to buy your neighbor’s property.”

The Stambaughs jumped on the opportunity, purchasing the adjacent home and six garages, where they have since built the latest expansion in their business.

It’s an expansion that combines the shared interests of both of the pair, with Keith gaining the art gallery he dreamed of someday owning, and Melinda gaining an on-site event venue for the catering business.

Seating around 50 to 60 people, the new event venue will host various events for customers, with on-site catering provided by the Warehouse.

The space will also possibly see use for events by the business, which the Stambaughs suggested could include dancing events or beer tastings.

The expansion also includes a new art studio for Keith, along with expanded brewery facilities, the pair notes.

During the grand opening of the building, the art gallery featured a show of paintings created by the Stambaughs, with the pair having painted together ever since they first met.

But soon, Melinda notes, the gallery is set to showcase other local artists, too.

“This is an art gallery for Hanover,” Melinda said.

The new art gallery is planned, in the future, to be open regularly on Sundays, said Melinda, with a small bar area that will serve cheese boards, antipasto boards, and wine, among other light offerings for visitors.

In what the pair note was a coincidence in timing, several local downtown Hanover businesses recently held the first of a monthly series of First Friday Art Walks, which began in August.

With the new art walks beginning, the Stambaughs said they hope to have their new art gallery participate in the art walk in September and going forward, though it was not set in stone yet.

What’s next for the Warehouse?

There’s more to come in the story of the Warehouse Gourmet, however, as the Stambaughs have further plans for the site.

Among the second floor of the newly built expansion, the Stambaughs have found room for a new restaurant, the “Brew Deck at the Warehouse,” which will be a casual sports bar offering with its own menu

With televisions and a more casual setting than the gourmet bistro next door, the ‘Brew Deck’ will be a local spot for patrons to gather and watch football, said Melinda.

The space is still being worked on, they note, with a fryer recently added for homemade sports bar offerings. Further information on the new restaurant, and its grand opening, will be announced later, they said.

Ultimately, standing near the latest expansion of his business, Keith can hardly believe where the journey has taken their business.

“It’s hard to believe,” said Keith.

“I thought we’d be like a little tiny Bistro, and it turned into this,” said Melinda.

“I could barely afford to pay the mortgage and the insurance,” he recalls of his original purchase of the abandoned building in 1996.

“Somehow I got through that,” he said, “now 29 years later, here we are.”

“It’s a dream come true,” he added.

Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for the Evening Sun. Reach him at hjones@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: Downtown Hanover business cuts ribbon on new art gallery, event venue