To say that the idea for Sit-Down Tap Room & Purveyor has existed for a while is a bit of an understatement. In fact, it predates Ted Van Steyn and Emily Feuerherm even moving to Flint.
“He’s been talking about what kind of restaurant he’d like to have one day since we first met,” said Feuerherm, who says they met in 2010. “This is just the slow realization of a dream that’s finally coming true.”
Van Steyn and Feuerherm moved to Flint in 2014 when Feuerherm was hired as a faculty member at the University of Michigan-Flint. They fell in love with the community, started a family here, and are now getting closer to reaching a long-held goal of opening their own restaurant.
Their building was originally a home built in 1913, located near Third Street. It was converted into an office building in the 1970s. That conversion – in particular the on-site parking that the lot now has – along with the location on Grand Traverse, a busy thoroughfare that connects traffic coming off of I-69 with Hurley Medical Center, Kettering University, Atwood Stadium, and other attractions and businesses in the Carriage Town area, made the property appealing.
“I think something like 10,000 cars per day go back and forth along Grand Traverse,” Van Steyn said.
“Not only that, but one of the things we love when we go to a restaurant or brewery is when they are old homes that have been opened up and turned into something that feels homey,” Feuerherm said. “They’re just such welcoming spaces. And so that was also really a thing that we liked about this. And the bones, this is just a really cool building, solidly built, and fits the the history and the story we want to tell about Flint.”
They’re also excited about the continued momentum around Grand Traverse, with an increasing number of fun spots just a few blocks off of the main stretch of Saginaw Street downtown.
“If you go to most major cities, you’ll notice it’s never just right downtown where all of the cool stuff is,” Van Steyn said. “There’s usually a lot of great stuff just a little bit off of downtown. And here, you know with the Foodie Commons coming, with Tenacity and Good Beans down the road, I think there’s another project being looked at for (the former) Tom Z’s (building), I like being a part of continuing to open up this second corridor.”
The couple purchased the building in 2015, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans to convert it into a restaurant. That time also gave Van Steyn and Feuerherm, admitted history buffs, a chance to further flesh out the concept for the establishment and how exactly it will pay homage to Flint.
Van Steyn, who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), takes a lot of pride in learning the history of communities he’s lived in. He was a docent at the California State Railroad Museum when living in Sacramento. After moving to Flint, he began studying the history of the community and became fascinated with the 1936 Flint Sit-down Strike. Striking workers shut down production at GM plants in the city, protesting working conditions and treatment of employees, in what is widely considered the first major unionization victory in American history.
“We came here and I didn’t know a lot about Flint, so I started just researching it,” he said. “I’d never heard of the Sit-down Strike, and when I learned about it, and learned how pivotal it was to 20th century labor and what a massive role this tiny town played in that movement, I was like, wow, I’d like to be part of sharing and celebrating that. The sit-downers did great things for this town and I just wanted to, you know, pay homage to them.”
There are plans and designs in place for the restaurant, but there are a few more hurdles to clear before construction begins. One of those was solved on September 8 when the Flint City Council allowed a public hearing to move forward on the establishment of an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA) district in the area the property is in. OPRA allows cities to designate properties with a redevelopment plan as functionally obsolete, with a property tax freeze for up to 12 years. Flint has previously used the designation for redevelopments, including with the Capitol Theatre project downtown Flint.
The designation is vital to the project, as Van Steyn and Feuerherm are in the process of getting a Build Michigan Communities grant from the Michigan Economic Development Council. However, the grant is contingent on receiving the OPRA designation from the city, as it shows the local municipality is invested in and supportive of the project. All council members present at the September 8 meeting expressed support for the plans.
Van Steyn and Feuerherm are also working on finalizing other details, including getting a liquor license and building permits, but hope that they can begin work on the site as soon as next month.
When that work begins, expect a lot of Flint touches. Décor will include historic photos and imagery honoring the Sit-down strikers, restoration of historic elements of the home, tables crafted out of walnut slabs that are currently in the home’s basement, and even metal work meant to mimic Flint’s iconic downtown arches.
The menu will have some familiar bar items, but the staple will be pizza with a focus on fresh, high-quality ingredients.
“The beauty of pizza is we can focus on making the fresh doughs, fresh sauces, and really focus on that part of it,” Van Steyn said, noting that there will be some items like sandwiches, salads, and appetizers to complement the pizza.
Van Steyn and Feuerherm don’t have much restaurant experience themselves, but Van Steyn has significant management experience as well as a passion to learn. They plan to keep working their full-time jobs and hire an experienced restaurant manager, but Van Steyn also plans to be side-by-side with employees.
“I want to work every job in here, I want to take shifts, I want to be the person cooking pies, and all of that,” Van Steyn said. “You have to know what it takes to do every job.”
Longer term, they have visions of creating a prep kitchen in the building’s basement, and potentially even making use of some of the outdoor space for a larger pizza oven. For now, though, their focus is on just getting the building renovated and open and creating something positive for Flint.
“We live in Flint, we are raising our family in Flint, and we’re part of this community,” Van Steyn said. “The possibilities of this space in celebrating a place that we love, that we have come to call home, we are determined to make it work. We want quality food, a cool place. I want it to be a special time when you come in here and feel good and people remember you and that you treated them right.”
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