The city of Whitehall has hoped to one day acquire the property Big John's Pizza occupies for many years, and the parties came to a purchase agreement Nov. 14, clearing the way for the city to move forward with a revised plan for a Colby Street promenade.
The agreement is not scheduled to close until Aug. 14 of next year, which will give Big John's owners Neal and Amy Martell time to find new premises for their business. The Martells plan to continue to operate Big John's through that date before moving to a new location yet to be determined.
"With the Harwood Flats going in (next year), we've wanted to redevelop West Colby Street to connect the downtown with the waterfront," Whitehall city manager Scott Huebler said. "With that going in, we thought, now's the time. We sat down with Neal and Amy and asked what they needed. We made some amendments at their request. Not long after that, they came to us and said they were serious about selling the property."
A Muskegon Chronicle report last week said the purchase price was $375,000, which both Huebler and Amy Martell described as roughly meeting in the middle from each side's initial ask. The funds are coming from monies collected by the Tax Increment Finance Authority, which along with other bodies of its kind was created in 1984 with the purpose of promoting local development. The city plans to demolish the building, opening many possibilities to connect that portion of the street to Goodrich Park and the nearby waterfront.
The Martells, who have owned Big John's for the past seven-plus years, have long felt boxed in by the city. They felt the city was unwilling to work with them on their own expansion plans for Big John's, which would have included a deck behind the building and additional parking. Those plans would have required the purchase of city-owned land, which never came to fruition.
The Martells felt as though the city intended to "squeeze us out," Amy said, and their frustrations dealing with that situation led to their desire to sell.
Also a factor was the new Harwood Flats building, for which a ceremonial groundbreaking took place Oct. 31. That, and the promenade plans the city had in mind, created what the Martells felt would be inhospitable conditions for Big John's operation. Those conditions largely were due to Big John's property not extending much beyond the current building.
"It wouldn't bring in enough business to account for what we were going to lose because of it," Amy said, saying the proposed plans that included Big John's would have further limited parking availability at the restaurant.
For his part, Huebler said he understands the Martells' frustrations.
"I can't necessarily disagree with where they stood," Huebler said. "For the last 30 years, it's been well-known that the city was looking to acquire that property. We did that with all the surrounding properties. They wanted to expand (Big John's) to the west and purchase some city property, and the TIFA board said they weren't interested. They came to us with a price and we weren't able to find one that was mutually agreeable."
The Big John's sale will leave, apart from Harwood Flats, the Napa store that sits opposite Big John's on Thompson Street as the only private property between downtown and the Goodrich Park waterfront. Huebler said the city has expressed interest in purchasing the Napa building as well, but Rick Zeller, one of the building's owners, is content with his current situation.
Because the sale will not be finalized until next summer, the city will go back to the drawing board with its plans for the Colby promenade. The original plan was to complete the project next summer, but Huebler said the city will now wait until next fall to begin construction of the promenade, meaning it will not be ready until spring of 2025.
Both ends of the deal wanted Big John's to postpone finalizing the sale until next summer; Big John's wanted one more summer of business at its current location and the opportunity to tell summer visitors they would be moving, and the city wanted time to consider what the promenade will look like without the Big John's building there.
The city has several different ideas, Huebler said, that people have tossed out over the years for use of the Big John's property under the hypothetical scenario of acquiring it. Now that it's going to be a reality, the city will take time to assess its options.
Moving Big John's will be an intensive undertaking, one Martell is not eagerly anticipating. She said just the cost of relocating the cooking equipment will be around $70,000, close to three times what she and Neal were anticipating, and that's if they're able to find a building outfitted for a restaurant. The restaurant will also have to be closed for nearly a month, she said, to complete the relocation.
"I'd have stuck to my guns on the higher price I put out originally (if I'd known the relocation cost)," Martell said. "We kind of met in the middle, but I should've waited (to get pricing quotes). That was my mistake."
Huebler said there's a sense of relief on the city's side to have acquired the property after the years of an uneasy relationship with Big John's ownership.
"You could say it was a senseof relief, or accomplishment, to check off one of the boxes in the furtherance of our plan," Huebler said.
