New Thompson Block plan includes bar, microbrewery

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Developer Stewart Beal has two businesses lined up, consuming a lot of space in the Thompson Block project. He hopes to initiate a three-phase plan for the redevelopment of the historic structure in Ypsilanti.

The 3-story building at the eastern edge of Depot Town suffered heavy fire damage last fall and is now supported with elaborate scaffolding that extends into the street in some places. Beal wants to retreat from the street by November as the first phase. The second would include building out the undamaged section of the building and then the burnt part for the third phase.

Andy Garris of Elbow Room fame plans to open a bar/small music venue in the undamaged part. Beal says a prominent local microbrewer with operations both in downtown Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit (he declined to give a name) has verbally committed to build out the other half of the ground floor area into restaurant and microbrewery.

"By committed I mean they're spending money to investigate designing the space," Beal says.

He plans to build luxury lofts on the upper floors of the Civil War-era building. The residential portion would be the last section of the project to be completed.

But the lawsuits need to be settled before any work can begin. The city is suing Beal to remove the scaffolding supports and demolish the structure. Beal is suing the city to grant his building permit application so he can move forward with construction. The two sides are set to meet in court today.

The Thompson Block has become a controversial building in Depot Town in recent years. For the later half of the 20th Century it was neglected and allowed to become a blight while the rest of Depot Town revitalized itself into a destination. Beal acquired the building in recent years and promised to redevelop it into a combination of ground floor retail space and luxury loft apartments.

That plan hit a snag when the real-estate and financial markets collapsed two years ago, forcing Beal to scramble to find financing in a market where traditional lenders avoided real-estate deals. Beal started to redevelop the project out of his own pocket and the help of local investors last fall when a fire badly damaged half of the building.

Source: Stewart Beal, developer of the Thompson Block
Writer: Jon Zemke