'A National Treasure:' Revitalization Plans Brewing for Iconic Empire School House

People in and around Empire are hopeful that a plan to revitalize one of the village’s most visible and iconic buildings becomes reality.

The old Empire school house sits where M-72 dead ends into M-22 and has long been one of Empire’s most noteworthy structures. It hasn’t been used as a school for more than half a century, and locals have often wondered what will become of the stately building.

Now, owner Joe Van Esley plans to rehab the turn-of-the-century building into a mixed-use complex with room for businesses, community activities and more. The building’s character, layout and location make it the perfect spot for a community hub, he says.

“It's a national treasure. You're just not going to find another building like this,” Van Esley tells The Ticker. “It’s historic, but the thing about this this building that really makes it unique is it’s in the center of Sleeping Bear Dunes…and it’s across the street from the headquarters where they get a million and a half visitors a year.”

Van Esley has owned the building since 2004, but a big project there was on the backburner as he tended to his downstate real estate business. He’s ready now to dive into a complete transformation of the school.

“The timing is right. I’ve been selling commercial real estate since 1981, and business has been very good, which leads to me being able to afford doing something like this,” he says. “It’s probably now or never for me – I’m not a spring chicken.”

Van Elsey’s plan, which he says will cost between $2-3 million, involves creating several spaces within the building that can be used for a variety of office, retail or community purposes in an overall “public/private community center” vibe. He’ll do this, he says, while preserving the historic charm and basic footprint of the building.

“I have a couple classic cars, and if you take an old car and you update it with a new engine and new brakes, they call it a restomod (short for restored and modified),” he says. “Basically, we want to do a restomod here – we want to make this building green, make it state of the art and make it good for another 100 years.”

The community seems all in on the project, Van Esley says, and he’s been speaking with various proposed tenants.

“This is tenant-driven. We have some interest from various tenants, but we want to make sure (they are the right fit),” he says. “A lot of people want this to happen, and they want to be involved…so it’s picking up some traction.”

Of particular interest to many is the large gymnasium space, which could be used for a variety of purposes, including a modern fitness center.

Van Elsey and consultant Bruce Johnston will seek various state and federal grants for the project, he says. They hope to line up a few solid tenants before doing so.

“We won’t get a grant from the MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corporation) unless they vet who we've got,” he says. “They don’t want to give a grant to a project that is not going to be successful.”

Van Elsey says he himself would like to run a coffee shop in the building. He’s already installed electric vehicle charging stations there with that (and other operations) in mind.

The building is largely in good shape and ready for transformative work, Van Elsey says, at least in part because he capped it with a high-quality roof right after he bought it. His assessment is backed up by Gerry Shiffman, president of the Empire Area Community Center (EACC).

“I am a retired builder and I specialize in historic restorations, so I have a perspective on the bones of that building… and I can tell you that it has got really good bones,” he tells The Ticker. “It's an exceptionally well-built building.”

EACC, which works to serve the broader Empire-area community, is a prospective tenant of the building. Shiffman and others in the group are giddy at the ability to provide local residents with services that as of now are only available by driving to Traverse City or Frankfort.

“I’m very excited about the prospect of that building being revitalized and repurposed from the former schoolhouse (into a space) where varied entities could not only survive but thrive,” he says. “A building of this nature, with the kind of plans that Joe has, would serve the greater community.”

Earlier this month, Van Elsey and Johnston gave a presentation to the village planning commission on the project. Planning commission chairman Peter Schous tells The Ticker the project would fit nicely with the village’s strategic plans to create more recreational facilities in the area.

“I can say confidently that every member of the planning commission is really excited about this project,” he says. “We want to do anything we can do to help it move forward.”

Village President Dan Davis also voiced his support, though he had not reviewed specific plans.

“I’m very happy to hopefully see something being done with it,” he tells The Ticker. “That building has sat there (unused) for a long time now."

Photo courtesy of Mae Stier