One of the last stalwarts of blight in Ypsilanti's Depot Town is about to go away and be replaced with a new, vibrant mixed-use development.

 

The developer behind the Thompson Block project, Stewart W. Beal, signed a key tenant this week and expects to start construction in earnest later this month or early April. The development will breathe new life into a long-blighted building overlooking the railroad tracks at Cross and River streets, turning it into 16 luxury lofts above 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

 

“Lofts have been renting quickly, which is a great vote of confidence for the Thompson Block redevelopment project, the Depot Town area, and the entire city of Ypsilanti," Beal says. “We are optimistic we will overcome the few remaining issues we have with the State of Michigan and the city of Ypsilanti and will be able to start construction almost immediately.”

 

Andrew Garris signed a 10-year lease (brokered by Newcombe Clark with Bluestone Realty Advisors) for 3,525 square feet in the center of the building for a bar and music venue set to open late this year. Add that space to the 2,500 square feet at the corner of the building Broughton Music agreed to occupy last fall and that 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