DEVELOPMENT

e pub and theater are joining forces. Kathy Vertin, co-founder and executive director of Riverbank Productions, the 501(c)(3) nonpro t organization that will run the Boardwalk and runs the Snug and Riverbank theaters in Marine City, has contracted with DeAngelis and Tavano to have the Hamlin Pub operate the Boardwalk’s concession stand and to do the catering for those renting the VIP room on the theater’s second oor.

“We’re theater people, not food people. Let them do what they are good at,” said Vertin.

DeAngelis and Tavano agreed to terms to buy Drifters at the end of December. “We’d been talking to the Drifter’s owners for 90 days prior to that,” said Tavano.

Tavano said they wanted to expand into St. Clair and at that location because of the new theater that would be a neighbor; the renovation and reopening of the iconic St. Clair Inn directly across the street; and the more than 100 special events held much of the year on evenings and weekends in the Plaza, which drive a lot of foot trafc to nearby businesses.

Tavano can even help arrange nights sponsored by his suppliers, such as a planned Jose Cuervo night.

Drifter’s had a large outdoor patio directly overlooking the event area at the Plaza. “ e outdoor patio is what we are really excited about,” said Tavano.

He said the pub will add a small patio on the north side of the building so patrons can sit out and watch freighters go past and another patio on the south side of the building.

Another Hamlin Pub is being built concurrently in Davison. Tavano said the plan is to eventually have about 20 pubs in Southeast Michigan.

Tavano and DeAngelis have a company, AFB Management LLC, that does taxes, payroll and IT for all the restaurants, each of which operates as a separate LLC.

Hamlin Pubs serve typical American bar fare of pizza, sh and chips, burgers and salads, and have TVs scattered around to allow patrons to watch their choice of televised sports. Tavano said the St. Clair pub will have about 35-40 TVs and employ about 30. Tavano said the pub will typically have live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays and during the week have things like trivia night and karaoke.

He said the pub will also sponsor community activities such as softball teams.

e rst Hamlin Pub was built at Hamlin and Rochester roads in Rochester Hills in 1990, followed soon after by a second Hamlin in Lake Orion. Tavano and DeAngelis bought the Lake Orion pub in 2000 and the original in 2001, and have been expanding since, with most new pubs being ground-up construction.

“We’re excited to see Hamlin Pub coming to downtown St. Clair. e transformation of downtown St. Clair over these last few years has been dramatic, and it was spurred in great part by the creation of the courtyard at the Plaza,” said Randy Maiers, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. e foundation is not an investor in the pub but is heavily involved in the Boardwalk eatre. e foundation donated $500,000.

“ e fundraising has been unbelievable,” said Vertin. “We’ve had 200 donors, and they’ve donated from $50 to $1 million. at became the 180-seat River- bank eatre, another venue that proved doubters wrong.

Vertin said some donors include the Ann Arbor-based Franklin H. and Nancy S. Moore Foundation, $1 million; the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County, $500,000; one large anonymous donor, $250,000; and the Blue Water Convention and Visitors Bureau in Port Huron, $125,000.

Vertin proved the naysayers wrong in 2013 when they said her idea of a 98-seat theater o ering live professional entertainment in Marine City had no chance of success. e next year she and her husband went into a Bank of America Branch in Marine City, were told BOA was about to shut it down and they bought the building, instead.

In 2019, the last full pre-COVID year, the two theaters sold a total of 22,000 tickets. Total attendance last year was 16,000.

“We saw the bulk of the return at the end of the season, especially for ‘ e Sound of Music,’ which was our nal production of the year,” said Vertin. “We are seeing good attendance so far for ‘Big, the Musical,’ our rst production this season (at the Riverbank), so maybe the COVID impact is o cially behind us. It has required much marketing expenditure, though, to remind people that we are back in full swing and growing.”

Kathy was vice president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau before joining her husband, Tom’s, company, Auburn Hills-based

Theater schedules

The 2023 schedule for the Riverbank Theatre and the Snug Theatre in Marine City and the Boardwalk Theatre in St. Clair:

 “Big the Musical,” Feb.10-March 12, the Riverbank

 “Steel Magnolias,” April 14-May 28, the Riverbank

 “Give 'Em Hell, Harry,” June 3-18, the Snug

 “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” June 24-Aug. 12, the Riverbank

 “Hello, Dolly,” Aug. 4-Aug. 19, the Boardwalk

 “The Odd Couple,” Sept. 1-Oct. 8, the Riverbank

 “The Christmas Schooner,” Oct. 27-Nov. 26, the Riverbank

 “Elf the Musical,” Dec. 1-23, the Boardwalk

Visioneering Inc., a maker of components for the aerospace industry, as CFO in 1995. He was president and CEO.

In 2007, they sold the company at the top of the pre-Great Recession market.

Ground broke in February 2021 on the Boardwalk, with supply-chain issues and higher construction costs delaying its completion by several months. When nished in May, it will be the largest theater in Southeast Michigan outside of metro Detroit.

Vertin said the proposed cost of construction has risen from $3.2 million to $3.8 million. “In this time of in ation, we thought that nal cost was just great,” she said.

When the Boardwalk opens, the Snug will stop hosting plays, but will serve as a rehearsal venue for up- coming plays, as home to the area kids of the nonpro t Riverbank Performing Arts Academy and for hosting occasional musical acts. e architectural rm is St. Clairbased Infuz Ltd., headed by Vincent Cataldo. e general contractor is Dan Brenner of St. Clair-based Westhaven Builders LLC.

Given the uncertainty about when the Boardwalk would open, Vertin scheduled a pared-down schedule for the three theaters this year.

“ e ultimate goal is to build the organization so that we have overlapping productions throughout the season and folks coming into town can see more than one show,” she said.

Contact: thenderson@crain.com

(231) 499-2817; @TomHenderson2