Thompson Block project slices through red tape, sets fall construction

Stewart Beal must be getting in better and better shape these days as he continues to jump through hoop after hoop to lift the big Thompson Block project in Ypsilanti‘s Depot Town off the ground.

 

The young developer is currently doing a little extra work to shore up the historic structure but now plans to start construction in earnest this fall.

 

“There have been a couple of speed bumps but nothing we can’t handle,” Beal says.

 

The City Council recently gave its approval for $300,000 brownfield tax incentive and Beal hopes to receive state approval this summer. He and one of his perspective tenants are working to get a liquor license for one of the main businesses that will make the development possible. However, these are both issues Beal expects to resolve sooner rather than later.

 

The Thompson block is one of the last stalwarts of blight in Depot Town. Beal plans to restore it, creating a vibrant mixed-use development of retail and residential space overlooking the railroad tracks at Cross and River streets.

 

The plans call for crating 16 luxury lofts (rentals) above 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Andrew Garris will open a bar/music venue in 3,525 square feet in the center of the building. Broughton Music has leased another 2,500 square feet at the corner of the building.

 

Both of those leases puts Beal over the mandatory minimum of 60 percent of the ground floor space needed to start construction. There is still about 6,500 square feet of space (including basement space) still available for lease for something like a restaurant.

 

Five of the 16 lofts have also been rented. 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.

 

The Thompson Block building is one of the last redevelopment projects in Ypsilanti‘s bustling DepotTown, 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. That store was the first store to sell bicycles, among other things, 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 is rehabbing a number of apartment buildings and houses in Ypsilanti, began preliminary restoration work on it a few years ago when he took ownership.

 

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