OLD MISSION -- Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell know how to run a restaurant. They operate a string of successful eateries around the state.
Taking on a historic preservation project at one of the area's oldest and most-storied establishments is a vastly different challenge. But the lifelong friends and business partners are determined to succeed there, as well.
Carlson and Lobdell, who purchased historic Bowers Harbor Inn on the Old Mission Peninsula two years ago, donated future development rights for the 11-acre property that boasts hundreds of feet of West Grand Traverse Bay shoreline to the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, a nonprofit group in Lansing.
The donated easement is worth an estimated $4.8 million and will preserve more than 90 percent of the land from any future development, as well as the historic exterior of the century-plus-old building.
"We'd never done this type of easement before, and that's what makes it unique," Carlson said. "We want the community to be happy, that's the big thing."
A rich, haunted tradition
The owners said there's no documentation to prove exactly when the inn was built. Local lore puts it sometime in the 1880s, constructed as a summer getaway for Chicago lumber baron J.W. Stickney. He and his wife Genevieve lived there for years, and legend has it he took up with a nurse he hired to care for his wife, who later hanged herself in an elevator shaft in the building.
Reported sightings of the "ghost" of Genevieve continue to this day. Postings abound on the Internet of other paranormal activity at the inn, such as pictures falling from walls, unexplained noises, lights inexplicably turning on and off and even toilet paper unrolling on its own.
The ghost stories add to the inn's mystique, but Lobdell and Carlson said the other integral part of its history rests with the hundreds of area families and visitors who enjoyed special events there over the years. Weddings, anniversary parties, prom nights, family reunions -- the inn has been a backdrop for such occasions for decades.
"It has a lot of special memories for a lot of people around here," Lobdell said.
The pair's other restaurant holdings include North Peak Brewing Co. and Blue Tractor Cook Shop in Traverse City, and restaurants in Ann Arbor and metro Detroit. They purchased the inn from local restaurateur Howard Schelde, who owned the landmark property for more than 30 years.
The two kicked around different ideas for maximizing the property's value, including residential condominium development. Those plans led to a meeting with representatives of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, who steered them to the Michigan Historic Preservation Network.
That group crafted a handful of similar agreements for preserving historic properties around the state, and holds a preservation easement for the historic Daugherty house in Peninsula Township. Nancy Finegood, the preservation group's executive director, called it "a partnership made in heaven."
"We're losing our farmsteads and our historic properties and our homes to 'Mcmansions'," Finegood said. "Our kids aren't going to know what these properties look like."
The group will hold the easement in perpetuity, will review and approve modifications to areas covered by the easement, and will annually inspect the land to ensure compliance with the agreement. It also will nominate the property for listing on the National Register of Historic Places when it's eligible in 2009.
Finegood said the partnership is among four case studies on historic preservation efforts around the country to be featured at a rally of the Land Trust Alliance, a land conservation group in Washington, D.C.
"Our goal is to protect it forever ... " she said. "It's important to the history of that community."
Changes afoot
Several changes are underway to help Bowers Harbor Inn compete in the region's highly competitive restaurant market. Construction is underway on a 7,000-square foot structure behind the inn that will house a reception area for weddings and banquets, along with a micro-brewery where the business will craft locally made beers to be bottled and sold under the North Peak brand.
The casual bar/restaurant in the rear of the inn, known for years as The Bowery, will close Nov. 1. It will be renovated and re-open next spring as a restaurant and tasting room called Mission Brewery.
Improvements to Bowers Harbor Inn will include a new roof, interior remodeling and some electrical and mechanical upgrades. An upstairs room will be converted to a historic library where visitors can learn about the Inn's past and the history of the surrounding peninsula.
The cost of those improvements is estimated at $1.5 million, and the owners hope the combination of old and new will continue to draw both visitors and locals alike.
"To get people to drive out, we think it needs to be something unique," Carlson said.
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