The latest redevelopment project in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town, the Thompson Block building, just signed its first major retail tenant and is on the verge of inking a deal for another.
Broughton Music Center signed a 10-year lease for 25 percent of building’s ground floor with a pair of 10-year options afterward. The center will occupy the building’s best location, overlooking the corner of Cross and River streets, along with the railroad tracks. Broughton has two other locations in Kalamazoo and downtown Northville and its Ypsilanti store is set to open early next fall, when construction is finished.
"This is a great vote of confidence for the Thompson Block redevelopment project, the Depot Town area, and the entire city of Ypsilanti," says Stewart W. Beal, the developer behind the project. "We are optimistic we will secure the remaining tenants we need to get the construction started soon."
Stewart adds that his team is close to signing a restaurant that would take between 3000 and 5000 square feet of the ground floor’s remaining 10,000 square feet. Construction will begin in earnest once that tenant comes on board and the rest will be open to other commercial tenants.
The Thompson Block building is one of the last redevelopment projects in Ypsilanti's bustling Depot Town, just north of downtown along the Huron River. Since its construction in 1861, the building's history of booms and busts is only matched by a long list of "firsts".
Originally built to house Civil War soldiers, it became Thompson Hardware Store (thus the name) in 1880 
which, among other things, became the first place to sell bicycles in the area. It then became the city's first fire station in 1895 before becoming the very first Dodge Brothers car dealership in 1916.
But the later half of the 20th Century brought particularly hard times for the historic structure. The owner started neglecting the building in the 1960s and it became vacant soon after. Beal, who works for the Beal Group, began preliminary restoration work on it a few years ago when he took ownership.
His renovations will turn the three-story structure into 16 luxury lofts and 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. The plans call for creating lofts between 800 and 1,200 square feet, renting for between $800 and $1,300 a month. The refurbished structure will feature amenities such as wood floors and balconies. So far two of the lofts have been reserved.
Once finished the Thompson Block will join a cadre of other restored historic buildings in Depot Town, which surround the train tracks to Detroit and the old Ypsilanti train station.
Source: Stewart Beal, developer of the Thompson Block building
Writer: Jon Zemke
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