TOWN OF BELOIT — Beloit Auction & Realty Inc. on Monday afternoon broke ground on a new building on the site of the old Hanson’s Bar and Grill.
Beloit Auction bought the property at 615 Cranston Road in March 2024 and tore down the former bar and restaurant, which dated back to 1897, by the end of the month.
David Allen, who bought Beloit Auction from Richard and Pat Ranft in 2023, said the new building will be 55,000-square-feet. When they first began discussing the need to expand, they were considering a new building of 25,000 to 40,000 square feet.
“The more we really looked into it, the more we realized that we needed a building that we could grow into,” Allen said.
The building was designed by Angus-Young of Janesville and will be built by Beloit’s Klobucar Construction. Allen said the goal is to have it finished in the first half of 2026, and he plans to sell the buildings on West Grand Avenue and Sun Valley Drive where the company operates out of now. Those two buildings are a combined 24,000 square feet. Allen said he’s already in talks with a potential buyer.
“What I really want people to know from today is that we are committed to Beloit and growing here,” Allen said. The company’s roots in Beloit trace back to 1967. Ricahrd Ranft took over the business in the mid-1980s from his parents and ran it until selling to Allen.
Allen bought Beloit Auction in what is a golden age for auction companies. Auctions now are conducted online, opening them to bidders worldwide. The aging Baby Boomer generation is now passing from work to retirement and from retirement into assisted living and most of their personal belongings tend to either go into storage or up for auction.
On Monday, the groundbreaking included officials from the various companies that will help construct the new building, Beloit Town officials the Beloit Auction staff, which is up to 23 people, up five just from a year ago when Beloit Auction bought the Hanson’s property.
