Broadstreet set to reopen this fall

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Broadstreet set to reopen this fall
The outside of the downtown market, which is set to reopen this fall.

Six months after accumulated back taxes buckled Broad Street Downtown Tavern and Market, the well-known restaurant is set to reopen its doors this fall.

Co-owners Ben Baldwin and Dallas Russell said they hope to give the space a new identity, by renaming it 55 Broad Street and labeling the market as a go-to spot for craft and domestic beers.

Baldwin, who also owns the Sand Lake Party Store, told the Hillsdale Daily News their short-term goal is to bring beer, wine, and eventually liquor to downtown Hillsdale. The revamped tavern will also offer food, like chicken wings. The focus, however, will remain on providing top-notch alcohol, according to Baldwin.

Hillsdale residents are looking forward to seeing the downtown-centered business open its doors again. Penny Swan, a city council candidate, said she thinks the new business will bring life to the downtown area.

“I think Broad Street opening back up is a huge benefit to downtown. It will bring more people to downtown which is always a great thing for other businesses downtown,” she said in a Facebook message.  “It really has been kinda dead downtown since Broadstreet closed.”

Broad Street was forced to close its doors in February, due to more than $18,000 in unpaid back taxes and high operating costs. Despite previous owners’ attempts to rebrand the popular market, Broad Street was not able to stay in business.

Jason Walters, former manager of the the Hillsdale Municipal Airport and the owner of JWA consulting group, told The Collegian in February that the previous owners asked his company to evaluate the restaurant’s financial situation.

“The staff at JWA worked diligently and exhaustively to identify paths to success for Broad Street,” Walters said in a statement. “Unfortunately, based on the analysis performed by JWA, the owners of Broad Street Market Tavern have decided the best option is to close and focus on working on a plan to restructure Broad Street’s operations.”

Josh Colletta, a Hillsdale resident who once considered himself a regular customer of Broad Street, said that in order to avoid repeating the previous owners’ mistakes, Baldwin and Russell should listen to what the community wants.

“As strong and well-intentioned of an effort was made to make it something of a nightlife hotspot, that wasn’t really what downtown needed from it,” Colletta said in a Facebook message.  “If they stick to being a straightforward, demand-based specialty store, that, I think, is the way to go.”