A rendering of a future commercial and residential project at 58 and 60 N. West St. Courtesy | Hillsdale Renaissance
Luke Robson is playing Monopoly in the City of Hillsdale as his company, Hillsdale Renaissance LLC, acquired 11 new buildings in the past year and started seven new projects.
A 2017 Hillsdale College graduate and the president of Hillsdale Renaissance, Robson founded the company in 2022. According to a Collegian report from November 2023, Robson owned 16 buildings, but his portfolio has increased to 27 buildings over the past year, with most of them concentrated downtown.
“There’s something about the people that this place attracts that just really lends to a great quality of life,” Robson said. “There’s a great humane emphasis here that is lacking in a lot of places.”
Adam Stockford, mayor of the City of Hillsdale, said he supports Hillsdale Renaissance’s projects.
“Is there any other way to be but excited and optimistic about a multi-million dollar injection of real money and development into our downtown?” Stockford said in an email.
Currently, Robson has five projects under active construction, with two more in early development.
St. Joe’s Café, one of the seven projects, is set to open this week. The European-style pizza café is located at 92 N. Broad St.
Other projects include renovations at 16 S. Howell St. into office spaces; 300 E. Bacon St., which will feature seven townhomes for Hillsdale College graduate students; a multi-use space at 58 and 60 N. Broad St.; and 55 N. Broad St., which will become Dante’s, a wine and cigar bar. Additionally, the company will transform 33 1/2 Broad St. into apartment buildings.
Hillsdale City Manager David Mackie said the town leadership supports Hillsdale Renaissance’s projects.
“City staff are always supportive of well-intended efforts to help revitalize our downtown,” Mackie said. “Many of the buildings Luke has acquired are currently in poor condition and need significant investment, and we are hopeful that he can achieve his goal of making them ready for a variety of new commercial or residential uses.”
Hillsdale Renaissance’s freight house project, located at 16 E. Hillsdale St., will aim to promote rail tourism.
“We’re trying to work with the railroad and the Michigan Department of Transportation to see how we can move forward and redevelop not just the freight house, but the entire block from the freight house all the way to Monroe Street,” Robson said.
Rail tourism brings significant traffic to the Hillsdale area several times a year, he said.
“The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society currently runs the Indiana Railroad Experience, which brings several thousand people annually to Hillsdale for rail trips,” Robson said. “They’re hoping to bring up to 25,000 people a year to Hillsdale. That’ll be a really great opportunity and a good way to try and reconnect the college to the downtown core.”
While the company is slowing down on property acquisitions, renovations and plans for current properties are continuing, he said.
“I feel like we’ve done a good job of establishing a big footprint, and now it’s just filling them out and actually executing,” Robson said.
Robson partnered with Joel Shull and John Biscaro on the new wine and cigar bar, Dante’s, located at 55 N. Broad St. The building previously housed Broad Street Liquor, Bootleggers Bar, and 55 Below. The businesses are currently closed during the transition, according to Robson, but will reopen this week.
Shull will be the general manager and part owner of Dante’s, while Biscaro will serve as wine director.
“In the case of Dante’s, the opportunity to purchase the liquor store and bars came up, and I was interested in that, but I wasn’t going to bite on it if I couldn’t find the time,” Robson said. “I was friends with Joel and talked to him about the project, and he was very interested in managing. This whole summer has been me, Joel, and John at least once a week trying to figure out, ‘OK, what’s this going to look like?’”
Hillsdale Renaissance is in the process of closing on the property, after which renovations can begin.
Dante’s will be made up of three parts, the shop, upstairs bar, and cigar lounge, according to Biscaro.
Biscaro said he is excited about the wine education opportunities Dante’s will offer to the community.
“It’s going to be reaching all different levels. The other side of that is talking to people who are in the town who are already drinking wine, have been drinking wine for years, and maybe they get their stuff shipped from California or Ann Arbor,” Biscaro said. “Let’s make it local, and let’s make it more personable.”
Dante’s hopes to partner with the college, whether by providing wine for events or educating students on alcohol etiquette.
“A friend of mine who was graduating was talking about the seniors’ dinner, and Penny Arnn will always ask you what you want to drink, and then ask you more questions than anybody knows how to answer. ‘Oh, what do you like? New World, or London dry style gin?’” Shull said.
Dante’s hopes for partnership with the college extend beyond education, Shull said.
“There are a bunch of commercial things we’d like to do. We’d like to be able to source the wine for Metz, for the college, or some other events like the Parents Weekend wine tasting,” Shull said.
He noted parents often ask the college where to purchase the wines featured at the tasting, and Dante’s will be able to stock and sell those options.
Shull and Robson said they hope to open the establishment as soon as possible.
“By the time the students come back for second semester, we should be open,” Shull said. “We’re kind of staggering as we renovate, because everything will be renovated, but the store will always be open. What is currently Bootleggers, will be closed until it’s done, and then once that can reopen, the downstairs will close. The cigar lodge part will be the last thing completed.”
Another project for Hillsdale Renaissance is the renovation of Stock’s Mill, a flour mill dating back to the mid-1800s.
“I own two thirds of that facility,” Robson said. “I’m working with a team to try and bring in a fine trade school, modeled after the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, South Carolina. We’re working on a curriculum now to do interior and exterior woodworking, timber framing, blacksmithing, stone carving, stained glass, and put that in there.”
The Stock’s Mill project is large, but Robson said he sees substantial benefits in revitalizing the space.
“Stock’s Mill looms over a lot of town, and actually being able to bring that back to life would be fantastic,” Robson said.
In light of Hillsdale Renaissance’s work, Robson encourages students to appreciate the community Hillsdale has to offer.
“If a student likes it here, if you’ve got good friends, a good church, and a good community, you can figure it out,” Robson said. “It takes a little bit of struggling, but there’s plenty of good work to be done here.”
Send tips to the City News team: collegiancitynews@gmail.com