S.M. Chavey/Collegian
The Dawn Theater in downtown Hillsdale has housed many Hillsdale events—from Derby Days, to Mock Rock, to Battle of the Bands, and more. It may now be developed into a different type of facility following its purchase by the City of Hillsdale’s tax increment finance authority (TIFA).
TIFA bought both the Dawn Theater and the Keefer House as part of a package deal for $410,000 from previous co-owners Jeff and Marcy Horton. The city had been hoping to purchase the Keefer House for several years, but the Hortons wanted to sell both buildings at once, resulting in the present deal reached with TIFA.
“We just really feel that if we could get the Keefer House developed and make it a destination that it would be good for the college. There would be more rooms available downtown when [Hillsdale College has] big weekends, so we thought it would be help that. Plus, we’d like to preserve it and make it a historic site,” said Michael Parney, chair of the Targeted Development Committee chair of the Targeted Development Committee, the committee within TIFA that recommended the purchase.
When complete, the hotel will hold about 35 rooms.
“The Keefer House is a very significant focal point both visually and historically. We can’t think of any other building that would make a bigger impact in terms of the economy,” Chairman of the TIFA board Chris Sumnar said.
As the city works to repair and develop the Keefer House, which will cost $3 million and take several years, it is undecided on what it would like to do with the theatre.
“We’re still evaluating options, but we’re thinking a community center. We’d love to have someone come in and operate it as a place for nightlife and entertainment,” Sumnar said.
Sumnar said that because it is now owned by a government entity, there is a good chance that some grant funding will be available for structural and roofing renovations. Until then, they will use the Dawn Theater as a community center for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, and potentially a public theater again, according to Parney.
Officer of Economic Development Mary Wolfram said TIFA and the Targeted Development Committee have been considering this purchase for several years now.
“The process starts with the big question: what is the best way to improve economic development in downtown Hillsdale area? TIFA has studied those issues on all of those buildings, and they picked out the ones that will have the greatest economic effect. Keefer House is pretty obvious because it’s the biggest empty house… downtown, and before it was empty it was underutilized and not being cared for,” Wolfram said.
Jeff Horton said he bought the Dawn Theater and Keefer House as part of a retirement project.
“Our purpose was to adopt these buildings. We never intended to open businesses [inside] ourselves, but simply to pursue the restoration and maintenance and wait for somebody to come by who had a good business purpose and could put them to good use,” Jeff Horton said.
In addition to restoring their capacities, Jeff Horton also said he wished to restore some of their history.
The Dawn Theater was built in 1919 during the time of silent films, according to Jeff Horton, and what you see inside today is not the way it was originally built. It was rebuilt in the ‘30s in order to accompany different acoustics of the films with soundtracks.
“There are indeed movie posters that were fixed to walls in the basement that have names and images of people from the silent film era,” Jeff Horton said.
Horton and his wife bought five properties over the years, but with this final sale they will have sold all of them.
“I am sort of retiring for a second time,” Jeff Horton said. “It was like an adventure—you never knew what was going to be around the next corner. Each one had a different character—its history and presence and potential.”