By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
DECATUR – J&S Hardware wasn't much to look at in Wednesday's freezing temperatures.
There's nothing behind show windows promising lawn and garden, sporting goods, gifts, paint and housewares.
Since it was once part of a four-storefront enterprise, these days it even lacks its own front door.
Leave the vision to Flavor Restaurant consultant Jimmy Bornamann and Kalamazoo developer Andi Budiwarman because when they look at this dilapidated facade at 102 S. Phelps St. they see destination dining.
They envision patrons traveling from Mishawaka and South Bend, Ind., and St. Joseph-Benton Harbor by summer 2008, unwinding after work while they leave their troubles behind and enjoy the drive.
"It's going to have that same kind of warm fuzzy feeling they've got over at Hard Times. Family-friendly. Comfortable food, but not stuffy," offered Bornamann, who formerly owned two restaurants in Plainwell.
With young children, "It was getting to be too much," so he started a restaurant development company to assist other entrepreneurs.
"I could go in there after hunting and still have a great meal, but not feel like we have to spend $45," he described their concept.
Bornamann said they selected Decatur for the as-yet-unnamed restaurant "because of the way all of the towns are growing. It's halfway between Kalamazoo and St. Joseph-Benton Harbor and Mishawaka and Kalamazoo. It's a really nice rural, centrally-located bedroom community. There are enough people in a 20-mile radius. It's not like Kalamazoo, where it's dense, but it's not as rural here as it was 10 years ago. People can come home from work and have a nice meal."
They expect the 60-day construction to start about February if winter weather cooperates.
Like all great economic development successes, Decatur and the developers hooked up because Budiwarman, formerly of Arizona, played hockey with the former village manager.
"It's not what you know, it's who you know," Bornamann laughed. "We have no connection to Decatur except it's a great small town in the middle of Michigan with great people. Why should places like Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo get all the money when places like this need it just as much if not more? Restaurants drive retail. If I put a jewelry store here, not as many people are going to come as for a restaurant. In Plainwell, I pulled people from Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Holland. Our goal is to have one or two more restaurants in this same zone so it becomes a downtown Dowagiac or a Kalamazoo with an energy to feed off of."
"When they sold (the four storefronts making up the hardware store), they sold them individually. This is the last one left," explained Village Manager Martin Super, who has had reviving downtown Decatur as a priority since his arrival last February. Super said he has eaten at Wood Fire in Dowagiac.
"We're not just purchasing it with this grant," Super said. "We're going to tear all this stuff off and restore the front of the building. The original entrance will be back in. And we have contractors who specialize in building facade restorations who will be doing this."
Lori LaPerriere from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) Community Assistance Team (CATeam) Signature Building and Facade Improvement Initiatives in Lansing dropped off Decatur's $64,508 check on her way to Three Rivers for another presentation of $48,839.
Decatur's grant will be supplemented by local and private matches of $106,000.
"We're doing a Signature Building and Facade Improvement," Super said. "South Haven right now is doing just facade. When you do just facade, they like at least four buildings and a minimum of two. The old drug store in South Haven with the 1960s-style, space-age facade is going to be completely removed and they're going to restore it to its original condition, along with three other buildings.
"That's really going to change the face of downtown South Haven. They're looking to have things look historical – but correctly historical and cleanly historical. There are too many original facades covered up," and now he's talking again about downtown in his own Van Buren County community.
"That's what these grants aim to do," Super said, "and they couple that with job creation."
Decatur expects to create 16 jobs with its 70-seat eatery in the long, narrow former hardware store that results from this MSHDA grant.
As Dowagiac did in the early 1990s, Super is counting on the new look to energize other business owners to join with a couple of his four already interested in the next project.
Super is also working on landing an "alternative fuel street sweeper" powered by compressed natural gas.
"Since Buchanan's doing it, whenever they're filled up, we would be filled up as well," he said.