Beal presents long-term plan for Thompson Block

By Christine Laughren
Feb. 3, 2010    ·    12:54 a.m.

The owner of Ypsilanti’s Thompson Building presented a two-part plan to fully open the roads surrounding the burned building at 400 N. River St., as well as renovate and lease an undamaged portion at Tuesday evening’s City Council meeting.

Stewart Beal, president of Beal Properties, which owns the Thompson Building, said in exchange for a 10-month extension of the City’s Traffic Control Order he would implement a one-year timetable for removing the road blocks and renovating a portion the building. Beal described the first phase as “retreat from the street.”

By March 15, Beal said he would have the support beams protruding onto the northbound lane of River St. removed and the entirety of the street open. He said a complete investigation of the foundation would be completed by May 30.

The basement of the building would likely be filled for additional structural integrity, and façade stabilization would be slowly implemented during the summer. Finally, Beal said he expects all of Cross St. to be fully open by fall, the façade of the building facing River St. repaired by Nov. 30 and the sidewalks restored by winter.

Phase two of Beal’s plan is to renovate a small portion at the north end of the building. The portion, protected by a fire wall, didn’t suffer as much damage as the rest of the structure and Beal said a bar/restaurant in a renovated portion of the building could recoup costs associated with renovating the remainder of the building.

Beal said he envisioned keeping the shell of the Thompson Building intact and constructing an entirely new building inside the old one.

“That would still allow us to capture historic tax credits,” Beal said Tuesday evening.

Although, he was hopeful the prospective tenant - who would occupy the first and second floor at 408 N. River - would secure financing, Beal said the company was “at the tenant’s mercy.” He said Beal Properties would provide the basic shell of a bar/restaurant and the tenant would have to provide the furniture, kitchen and other amenities.

Councilmember Pete Murdock, D-Ward 3, asked Beal if there was any way the timetable could be compressed. Beal said he thought he might be able to finagle the timetable a little, however, due to costs, scheduling and the skilled staff the project requires, Beal estimated his timetable to be reasonable.

Beal’s TCO extension expires Feb. 8. City Council is expected to vote on a TCO correlating with Beal’s timetable at its Feb. 16 meeting.

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