Brighton's Ciao Amici's Owners Among Old Fenton Fire Hall Applicants

The old Fenton fire hall may soon have a new tenant.

Four businesses have applied to renovate the old Fenton fire hall including:

• The owners of the Arbor Brewing Company and Corner Brewery (Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti)
• The owners of the Clarkston Union and the Union Woodshop (Clarkston)
• The owners of Lockhart BBQ (Royal Oak), Royal Oak Brewery and Detroit Beer Company 
• The owners of Tavern 131 (Milford), (Brighton) and (Brighton)

The deadline for submissions was May 14.

Ciao Amici's owner Toni Vulaj said he was looking at Fenton to expand his business because he has had a lot of customers from Fenton come to his restaurants in Brighton and Milford.

"I just think it would be a good hub," Vulaj said of Fenton. "And it's not too far from my other locations, where I can keep a hands-on operation so I can be there to make sure that everybody is taken care of."

Vulaj said he would like to turn the old fire hall into a casual fine dining restaurant - similar to what he did with Tavern 131 in Milford. He said he would like large dinner and lunch menus with 20 to 30 beers on tap and fine wines.

"We want to make it into a nice neighborhood bar/grill," he said. "I want to make it warm and inviting to people. I have a lot of ideas, but it's still too early to share."

“I am extremely excited that within the past three weeks, we have gathered interest from some of the finest restaurant operators in Michigan interested in developing the Old Fire Hall. Some of these firms have experience with projects that have been major redevelopment catalysts for the communities they serve,” stated Downtown Development Authority Chairman Craig Schmidt in a press release.

At 10 a.m. Thursday a selection committee consisting of three members of the DDA will meet to review the proposals and select candidates to interview. That committee will then conduct interviews next Tuesday.

After, a financial analysis of the final candidates will be conducted that may take up to 30 days to complete. A recommendation from the committee will then be made to the full DDA Board for approval.

“I have had the opportunity to meet with all of the prospects. The most interesting part about this process is that we did not have to approach any of them. They all approached us. I believe that being able to gather candidates of this quality is due to the hard work the Downtown Development Authority has invested toward the revitalization of Downtown Fenton, in the past few years. This type of interest shows that Fenton is fast becoming one of the most unique communities in Southeast Michigan,” said DDA Executive Director Michael
Burns.

The DDA and the terminated its lease of the on April 26. The deal was for to lease the building for $1 a year for seven years and then buy it for $1. MBC would have received up to $400,000 from the DDA toward the estimated $1.35 million in renovations required to bring the building up to standards. It has not been determined if the same assistance will be available for the new tenant.