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MICHIGAN CITY — A developer plans to redevelop the downtown Moose Lodge into a public entertainment space now that a new South Shore Line train station will be built across the street.
The building at 1108 Franklin St. served as a Moose Lodge for more than 80 years until the Loyal Order of Moose put it on the market in May of 2020.
“It had been on the market for over a year until an investor purchased the building to be adapted for a public food, beverage, entertainment and event space,” said real estate agent Michael Conner with @properties, which represented the buyer.
The new owner, Todd Davis, bought the property for $650,000, Conner said. Davis has a second home in Michigan City, where he has invested in real estate for 10 years.
Plans call for investing $35,000 to $40,000 in an exterior renovation.
“We are looking to land a distillery or brewery for the whole space,” Conner said. “We have lots of interest in event space using the bowling alley for private parties. The concept is to use the very functional retro feel of the building allowing someone to get in with minimal investment.”
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The nonprofit Moose Order has raised money for various causes in Michigan City since the 1920s. Pat Margraf said the charitable social club had 2,800 members in the 1970s but now has about 780 members, both women and men.
It was determined that the 19,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1938 after the original wood-framed building burned down, was too large for the smaller membership. So they decided to sell to capitalize on the stronger demand for Michigan City real estate.
“We decided to purchase the former Traditions Event Center in Trail Creek,” Margraf said. “That was a better fit for us and gave us some great outdoor space to utilize for events. Some of our older members will miss the space because they often harken back to a building buzzing with music and dancing and members that would fill the building. Not to mention a slew of bowling leagues that operated downstairs.”
The new owner plans to find a new use for the building with a new user who can take advantage of the full kitchen, stage, banquet room, two bars and four-lane bowling alley.
“This may be one of the best-kept secrets in all of Michigan City,” Conner said. “I love the retro feel of the space, and that the Moose kept everything as it was 50 years ago. It has that perfect vintage vibe, which seems to be what certain types of venues demand now. The fact that this was a private club is what kept this space as an undiscovered gem.”
The building is posted to benefit from greater traffic and visibility when a new commuter train station is built across the street as part of the South Shore Line double-tracking project.
Plans call for preserving the historic nature of the building and updating the exterior without changing the design.
“The exterior needs to be more inviting, and we are exploring ways to make that happen including painting the exterior,” Conner said. “We would love to pay some sort of homage to the Moose organization so we are looking at ways to do that on the exterior.”
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Raising Cane’s, Naf Naf Grill, Perfect Home Services, Black Diamond Lounge and beauty supply store opening
Coming soon
Raising Cane’s, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based chain known for its chicken fingers, is now hiring for its new Hobart location as it eyes a fall opening.
The fast food restaurant that sells chicken finger baskets tore down the former TGI Fridays at 2487 E. 80th Ave. in the Crossings of Hobart shopping center, across from the Southlake Mall.
Raising Cane’s pulled a building permit estimating the 3,023-square-foot restaurant with a two-lane drive-through will cost about $2.52 million to build, Hobart Building Official Karen Hansen said.
A company representative said Raising Cane’s plans to open the Hobart location in September. The company has posted job openings, including for shift managers.
Joseph S. Pete
Now hiring
Raising Cane’s was founded in 1996 by business partners who raised money by working as a boilermaker at a Louisiana oil refinery and as a sockeye salmon fisherman in Alaska, also securing a U.S. Small Business Administration loan.
It has since grown to more than 600 locations around the world. It first came to the Chicago market in 2018, and has restaurants near Loyola University and Wrigley Field, as well as in suburban Harwood Heights.
For more information, visit raisingcanes.com.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
Naf Naf Grill, a popular Middle Eastern chain in Chicagoland, pulled a building permit to do interior construction work in the old Q-BBQ space in Schererville’s Shops on Main shopping center.
The fast-casual restaurant specializes in customizable pitas and bowls with chicken shwarma, steak or falafel, as well as the customer’s choice of ingredients like Basmati rice, couscous or hummus. It’s remodeling the space at 79 US 41, Unit 200A.
Founded by Sahar Sander in Naperville in 2009, Naf Naf Grill now has locations across Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It has a half dozen locations in Chicago and nine more in the suburbs.
Joseph S. Pete
Rapidly expanding
Naf Naf means “fan the flame,” a Middle Eastern invitation to gather and share a meal. The Chipotle-like restaurant, which has several locations in downtown Chicago, lets customers build their own meals that can be topped with causes like tahini, garlic sauce, harissa sauce and S’khug, a blend of jalapenos, red pepper, garlic, cumin, and other seasonings. Sides include Naf fries and lentil soup.
For more information, visit nafnafgrill.com.
Joseph S. Pete
Open
Perfect Home Services expanded to Northwest Indiana.
The company has been providing home heating, cooling and plumbing services in Chicagoland since 1992. It installs air conditioners and heating systems and does same-day and emergency repairs, as well as plumbing works.
Serving suburban Chicagoland for three decades, it now opened at 1114 E. Main St. in Griffith.
Aaron McDermott and John O’Malley of Crown Point-based Latitude Commercial, one of the Region’s leading commercial real estate firms, represented Perfect Home Services in the lease transaction.
“The industrial sector has seen a rapid rise in NWI over the past few years. We were excited to work with such a great and reputable company of Perfect Home Services with their expansion into NWI,” McDermott said.
For more information, visit www.perfecthomeservices.com.
Joseph S. Pete
Open
Black Diamond Smoke Shop and Lounge opened in the South Lake Retail Center in Hobart.
The smoke shop portion of the business at 5135 E. Lincoln Highway opened Friday. The lounge should open by the end of April, owner Kalem Martin said.
It’s located by El Salto Restaurant on U.S. 30 in Hobart, not far from the Albanese Candy Factory.
Martin, a Calumet Township native, also owns Black Diamond smoke and vape shops in Griffith, Hobart and Merrillville. This will be his first with a lounge.
The lounge will have 10 sections seating 10 to 15 people who can hang around and smoke cigars, hookah, vapes or CBD: “everything but cigarettes or anything illegal.” It will include a stage that will host live music performances, comedy, karaoke and open mic nights.
Joseph S. Pete
Lounge coming
Televisions will screen basketball, baseball, football and other sports games, as well as mixed martial arts and Ultimate Fighting Championship paper views.
The food menu will include finger foods like nachos, pretzels and pizza.
A bar will serve beer and wine.
“It will have all types of beers: IPAs, Coronas, Miller Lite, all the good beers,” he said. “It will have high-class wines.”
Joseph S. Pete
Place to relax
He’s also working to obtain a full three-way liquor license that will allow it to sell all types of liquor.
“You can rent it out for birthdays, bachelorette parties or college graduations,” he said.
“It’s somewhere to go to sit back, chill and relax,” he said. “It has a relaxing vibe with a dim light. I’m trying to bring the Chicago scene to here, something for middle-aged people.”
The 5,000-square-foot store will employ about a dozen people, mostly cycled in from his other stores. He’s considering opening another smoke shop in Valparaiso and eventually other lounges in Chicago and Indianapolis.
Joseph S. Pete
Destination
He expects the Hobart lounge will be a destination for all of Northwest Indiana.
“We expect to draw from Whiting all the way to Hebron and Merrillville,” he said. “It will be a nice place people can rent out for events.”
Black Diamond Lounge will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. during the weekends. The lounge will stay open until 3 a.m.
For more information, call 219-201-5471 or find the business on Facebook and Instagram.
Joseph S. Pete
Coming soon
The Beauty Trap Beauty Supply Boutique has been selling hair care, beauty supplies and clothes in Gary and will soon open a brick-and-mortar store.
Hope Rockett was working as a manager at a local Qdoba when she caught COVID-19 three times.
“I needed to be able to do something at home and make money,” she said.
Rockett, who also wanted to be able to spend more time at home with her 4-year-old son Sire with spina bifida, launched the retail business through DoorDash two years ago.
“COVID shut down all the beauty supply stores,” she said. “I noticed retail stores starting to open on DoorDash. Walgreens was on there. So I started mine there. We bring everything right to your door.”
Her beauty supply boutique sells hair accessories, hair coloring, hair extensions, hair relaxers, dreadlock maintenance, nail care, wig care, electric styling tools for men and women and other products. It also sells clothes, such as jackets, sweats and tops, as well as bags and other accessories.
“It’s urban streetwear, dresses, jogging suits,” she said. “We have clothes mostly for women but also some for men. We have wave caps and berets.”
Joseph S. Pete
Opening May 1
She will open a brick-and-mortar store at 2001 Broadway on May 1.
“I’ve always wanted to have a store of my own,” she said. “I’m African-American and a lot of beauty store owners don’t know about our products. So I took my knowledge and experience as a manager to open my own business. We deliver so you don’t have to leave your house if you don’t want to. We have quality products at affordable prices. We’re in a low-income area so I try to make everything affordable.”
She hopes to eventually expand the business into a beauty mall in which people can buy beauty supplies and then have their hair done in the next room. She also hopes to sell locally made products like handmade lip glosses.
“I’d definitely like to expand in Northwest Indiana and then Illinois,” she said.
The Beauty Trap Beauty Supply Boutique is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
For more information, call 219-649-0101, email [email protected] or visit beautytrap.org.
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email [email protected].
Joseph S. Pete
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