By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – The building on White Street that housed Hobbymasters for 45 years, until its closure in 2020, will soon be home to a new venture that promises to revive the former space’s vibe – with an in-house café, a retail store, and a makerspace.
The new sign is up and the doors are set to open Saturday, June 14, for Build & Brew, a business that in- tends to create a community for individuals with and without neurodevelopmental differences.
For founder and CEO Ross Yellin, the two-story space in the heart of Red Bank is not just a café or a workshop – it’s a reimagining of community, opportunity and belonging. “We’re trying to just create a fun, relaxed vibe because the whole idea is integrating folks with special needs into the public,” Yellin said.
The first floor, spanning 10,000 square feet, is divided into two distinct areas: a makerspace with a retail store and a café with a checkout counter. The makerspace offers a design hub with a workshop area that houses 3D printers, laser cutters and computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Students can learn basic engineering concepts and convert their ideas into real-life models to create unique products, such as remote-controlled cars, robots, jewelry and buildable kits similar to LEGOs. The products can be offered for sale later at the retail store in the front of the space to organically introduce partic- ipants to a “public interface, because you make stuff and then we sell it to teach you a whole business model,” Yellin said. The café area features a pool table and a board game library, complemented by a professional kitchen. “The idea is that anybody can come in, order food, play pool, socialize, play board games.”
Two classrooms on the second floor are multi-use. The classes currently offered include graphic design, web design, coding, culinary arts, music and theater. Each program is led by professionals with expertise. “We have a fine arts instructor who’s been practicing for 30 years,” Yellin noted. “Our tech instructor is an engineer who’s done high-level technical work.” Yellin said the staff on board is specially trained in accommodation, and the entire environment is structured to support diverse learning styles and sensory needs.
Build & Brew will operate like a school during the weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with structured learning environments for students with special needs. The café and retail store will be open for two hours each weekday to offer an experiential learning program for students. Friday evenings and Saturdays will be open to the public. The facility will be closed on Sundays.
Fee schedules are structured to be accessible to as many people as possible. For individuals with developmental disabilities, services can be funded through their New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities budget or Medicaid. For the general public, fees are approximately $10 per hour or $100 monthly for unlimited access.
Yellin aims to create a social ecosystem, rather than just an educational center. The center is designed not just to provide training but aspires to create employment pathways. “We actually employ people with special needs to work and be involved in making things,” said Yellin, who developed the idea for Build & Brew through his own personal challenges. He has been diagnosed with Tourette’s, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
“I’ve struggled all my life,” Yellin said, “I didn’t have a lot of friends, and I didn’t really have that creative support system. But what inspired me to do this is I’ve always found that helping other people took the pain away from me.”
Yellin said he envisioned Build & Brew to be a critical missing link that bridges educational support and real-world opportunities.
“Any time you integrate people with special needs with the general public, there are challenges,” Yellin said. “But that’s precisely why we must create these spaces. We’re fostering interaction through social, educational and employment environments.”
Classes begin July 1; there are no prerequisites. For more information or to register for classes, visit buildandbrewcafe.com.
The article originally appeared in the June 12 – 18, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
