She’s back! Town Club reopens after tear down
The new improved Town Club. Photo by LKW
Brendan Burke will no longer have to answer the question he has heard repeatedly for the past 10 months, “When are you going to open?”
The owner of the Town Club since 1998, the popular downtown Elk Rapids watering hole and eatery, Burke has his business back open and running after a planned four-month remodel turned into a tear down and rebuild project.
“Our idea for the remodel began in August of 2018. We closed on January 4, 2019 for what was to be a three-month renovation. We had bought the place from the Bradfields; they had had it for some 33 years, and we were going on 20 years, so it was time for necessary changes,” Burke explained.
“During the first week, a carpenter grabbed an iron bar that covered an old window and gave it a shake, you could actually see the entire wall move back and forth to the front of the building, that is when we knew it was going to take more than a renovation,” said Burke.
Old rotting floor joists, no insulation, uneven flooring and a host of structural problems led to a new plan – tear down the building and rebuild brand new.
“The renovation would have cost more; it just could not be done. So we tore it down. The decision wasn’t a hard one to make. I was ready rebuild after the first day, we could see it wasn’t going to work.”
The timetable for opening turned into June, then July, then it became before Harbor Days, then switched to Labor Day, then September and finally Halloween.
There were a few barriers with the Health Department, plus construction and building situations and other problems that popped up, causing the delays. “This was not a planned deal, it happened quickly. I was lucky that I was somewhat ready for it,” Burke added.
Rumors flew about reasons for the delay. There was talk of a chain eatery going in, maybe a clothing shop, even that Burke had retired and moved away. Several lotteries were set up to guess the opening day. An apartment originally planned for the upstairs was scrapped due to a possible lack of tenant parking, but that didn’t hold up the opening as was rumored.
As the months rolled by there was never a time that Burke thought of throwing in the towel on the project. “There are people that are dying to live up here, and to visit up here. They want to have a spot to go to like this that is clean and friendly, a place that people can bring their kids to and feed an entire family for a reasonable price.”
“We finally were ready on November 21, a Thursday. I dropped a few little hints; I didn’t give an exact date or time. I knew people were going flock in, and I had a bunch of new people on staff. We were supposed to open at three, but we were still finishing things up, so we opened at five. People were waiting, and they just flooded the place, we had a wait. We had a wait for four nights in a row. It has been a really good opening.”
The place retained some of the core workers but lost a few when the delay turned longer than expected. Fortunately, people flocked in with applications when the Club was ready to hire.
The restaurant has the same basic layout and will seat around 95, according to Burke. The old bathrooms are gone. “I hated those bathrooms, you couldn’t get those clean if you had a hose shooting pure bleach,” Burke said. The kitchen is bigger and boasts new equipment including coolers and a new char-grill, but enlarging it sacrificed some seating and the pool table.
The original bar is back in place, along with the original back bar. The bar was refurbished, refinished and newly wired, but battle scars from the years were purposely left intact. The sign hanging inside the building is the top of the old neon sign that sat on the roof of the old building. The old bar stools are back and in place.
There is a jukebox on the wall, a $5,000 machine that will move your song up in the queue or even take your picture and post to social media if you’d like, for a fee.
“I’m not really sure what all the things that it can do. I haven’t fooled with it yet. I’ll have to have one of the kids explain it to me.”
A 12-screen monitor lets Burke watch operations from his office, or even his phone if he chooses. There will be a menu overhaul after the first of the year. For now, prime rib will return on Thursdays and breaded perch is back on Fridays, two popular nights from the past. Still to come is an awning over the entrance, equipped with recessed lighting. The bugs will be worked out as time goes on.
The Town Club used a Facebook page to document how the tear down was progressing. Nearly 1800 followers, made up of regulars and those that had visited just a few times, kept watch over the progress, while wondering when the opening would occur. Messages filled the wall, some remorseful of the tear down, and those wishing the place well. There were many stories from people of memories or events they had experienced in the Town Club over the years.
There were no treasures discovered during the demolition, in fact the only thing worth mentioning was an old mustard bottle. “It was from maybe from the 1950s. It had a picture of waitress with a flowing dress, handing out mustard. That was it,” Burke said.
If he had to do it all over again, Burke admitted he would still do the tear down but would have started it earlier. “I would have started in November and had a set plan and a lot more paperwork done ahead of time, and more deadlines in place. I did try and enjoy my first Harbor Days off, I watched the fireworks from the roof, I’ve never done that before,” Burke said with a grin.
The Town Club is open seven days a week, opening at 11:00 a.m., and closing around midnight unless things are busy. Welcome back Town Club!
The owner of the Town Club since 1998, the popular downtown Elk Rapids watering hole and eatery, Burke has his business back open and running after a planned four-month remodel turned into a tear down and rebuild project.
“Our idea for the remodel began in August of 2018. We closed on January 4, 2019 for what was to be a three-month renovation. We had bought the place from the Bradfields; they had had it for some 33 years, and we were going on 20 years, so it was time for necessary changes,” Burke explained.
“During the first week, a carpenter grabbed an iron bar that covered an old window and gave it a shake, you could actually see the entire wall move back and forth to the front of the building, that is when we knew it was going to take more than a renovation,” said Burke.
Old rotting floor joists, no insulation, uneven flooring and a host of structural problems led to a new plan – tear down the building and rebuild brand new.
“The renovation would have cost more; it just could not be done. So we tore it down. The decision wasn’t a hard one to make. I was ready rebuild after the first day, we could see it wasn’t going to work.”
The timetable for opening turned into June, then July, then it became before Harbor Days, then switched to Labor Day, then September and finally Halloween.
There were a few barriers with the Health Department, plus construction and building situations and other problems that popped up, causing the delays. “This was not a planned deal, it happened quickly. I was lucky that I was somewhat ready for it,” Burke added.
Rumors flew about reasons for the delay. There was talk of a chain eatery going in, maybe a clothing shop, even that Burke had retired and moved away. Several lotteries were set up to guess the opening day. An apartment originally planned for the upstairs was scrapped due to a possible lack of tenant parking, but that didn’t hold up the opening as was rumored.
As the months rolled by there was never a time that Burke thought of throwing in the towel on the project. “There are people that are dying to live up here, and to visit up here. They want to have a spot to go to like this that is clean and friendly, a place that people can bring their kids to and feed an entire family for a reasonable price.”
“We finally were ready on November 21, a Thursday. I dropped a few little hints; I didn’t give an exact date or time. I knew people were going flock in, and I had a bunch of new people on staff. We were supposed to open at three, but we were still finishing things up, so we opened at five. People were waiting, and they just flooded the place, we had a wait. We had a wait for four nights in a row. It has been a really good opening.”
The place retained some of the core workers but lost a few when the delay turned longer than expected. Fortunately, people flocked in with applications when the Club was ready to hire.
The restaurant has the same basic layout and will seat around 95, according to Burke. The old bathrooms are gone. “I hated those bathrooms, you couldn’t get those clean if you had a hose shooting pure bleach,” Burke said. The kitchen is bigger and boasts new equipment including coolers and a new char-grill, but enlarging it sacrificed some seating and the pool table.
The original bar is back in place, along with the original back bar. The bar was refurbished, refinished and newly wired, but battle scars from the years were purposely left intact. The sign hanging inside the building is the top of the old neon sign that sat on the roof of the old building. The old bar stools are back and in place.
There is a jukebox on the wall, a $5,000 machine that will move your song up in the queue or even take your picture and post to social media if you’d like, for a fee.
“I’m not really sure what all the things that it can do. I haven’t fooled with it yet. I’ll have to have one of the kids explain it to me.”
A 12-screen monitor lets Burke watch operations from his office, or even his phone if he chooses. There will be a menu overhaul after the first of the year. For now, prime rib will return on Thursdays and breaded perch is back on Fridays, two popular nights from the past. Still to come is an awning over the entrance, equipped with recessed lighting. The bugs will be worked out as time goes on.
The Town Club used a Facebook page to document how the tear down was progressing. Nearly 1800 followers, made up of regulars and those that had visited just a few times, kept watch over the progress, while wondering when the opening would occur. Messages filled the wall, some remorseful of the tear down, and those wishing the place well. There were many stories from people of memories or events they had experienced in the Town Club over the years.
There were no treasures discovered during the demolition, in fact the only thing worth mentioning was an old mustard bottle. “It was from maybe from the 1950s. It had a picture of waitress with a flowing dress, handing out mustard. That was it,” Burke said.
If he had to do it all over again, Burke admitted he would still do the tear down but would have started it earlier. “I would have started in November and had a set plan and a lot more paperwork done ahead of time, and more deadlines in place. I did try and enjoy my first Harbor Days off, I watched the fireworks from the roof, I’ve never done that before,” Burke said with a grin.
The Town Club is open seven days a week, opening at 11:00 a.m., and closing around midnight unless things are busy. Welcome back Town Club!
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