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The longtime Miami Township fire station is being sold to villager and comedian Dave Chappelle for a comedy club. A planned renovation will create a performance space and restaurant in the 6,000 square foot building, according to architectural renderings. (Architectural rendering by Max Crome)
Chappelle to buy former fire station in Yellow Springs for comedy club
- Published: December 21, 2020
Nationally known comedian and local resident Dave Chappelle is purchasing the former Miami Township fire station with plans to open a comedy club.
The Yellow Springs Development Corporation, or YSDC, disclosed the buyer of the fire station this week after originally approving the purchase in September.
Chappelle’s company, Iron Table Holdings, will renovate the longtime fire station at 225 Corry St. into a comedy club featuring both a performance space and restaurant, according to plans shared by the YSDC. The venue’s capacity is estimated at 140 people, and patios are slated for the property along Corry Street and the Little Miami Scenic Trail.
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According to YSDC member Corrie Van Ausdal, Chappelle’s plans call for a “brick and mortar” version of the socially distanced, outdoor shows that the comedian organized this summer at the Wirrig Pavilion in the township. Those shows drew hundreds of attendees at each performance and featured a revolving slate of well-known comedians and musicians.
A quasi-governmental group with representation from the Village of Yellow Springs, Miami Township, Yellow Springs Schools, Antioch College and the Yellow Springs Community Foundation, the YSDC handled the sale of the fire station for the township, whose trustee offices and fire station were recently relocated to a new facility on the south side of town.
According to YSDC representatives this week, the proposal submitted by Chappelle’s company rose to the top primarily because of its potential economic impact.
Of the three leading proposals the YSDC considered, Chappelle’s plans ranked the highest in five of seven categories: profits/wages/taxes, environmental impact, local impact, diversity and COVID-19 considerations, according to a YSDC press release. The other categories were people/culture and job creation.
“We believe it is the best and highest use of the fire station space, as an entertainment venue that does not directly compete with local businesses, and it helps draw additional commercial activity into the Central Business District,” according to Lisa Abel, YSDC’s board president, in the release.
“From the board’s standpoint, it was the best impact for economic development,” Abel later added by phone. “The board was excited with this proposal.”
Van Ausdal, a member of the YSDC subcommittee that took inquiries and reviewed bids, said that Chappelle’s proposal “shined” in several ways. In addition to promising a “high impact” when it comes to local jobs and taxes, it would also create ancillary benefits for businesses in town that cater to visitors.
(Architectural rendering by Max Crome)
“It was the multiplier effect of having a venue like that for people to come not just for an evening, but a weekend, so the impact on restaurants and shops, hotels and Airbnbs,” Van Ausdal said of the potential benefits.
Van Ausdal added that the comedy club will also provide a place “for professional artists to have a place to create.”
“It will feature heavy hitters coming in from out of town, but we also have a lot of artists … who don’t have a place [to perform],” she said. “The idea that we may have a place for that is exciting to me.”
The fire station purchase is only the latest in a series of property purchases in the village the popular entertainer has made over the last year.
Through his holding company, Iron Table Holdings, Chappelle purchased two additional properties in the village this month — the Union Schoolhouse and 150 Railroad St. — adding to a growing list of real estate acquisitions in the downtown area.
In response to a News request on Monday for comment on the fire station purchase, Chappelle’s public relations manager, Carla Sims, said the comedian was traveling and unable to immediately respond.
In response to a request for an interview on the Union Schoolhouse purchase earlier this month, Sims responded, “Dave is not doing interviews at this time.”
“If that changes and he wants to discuss the purchase, I will let you know,” she wrote.
A follow-up email seeking comment through other means was not returned.
Chappelle did not personally present his plans for the property to the YSDC; his architect, Max Crome, and attorneys facilitated the purchase, according to YSDC representatives.
Although the YSDC approved the sale in September, an error in the real estate contract and an illness in the family of the buyer caused delays in closing the sale and revealing the identity of the buyer.
A final purchase price was not released by press time, as the real estate contract is still being finalized. The 6,027-square-foot building constructed in 1956 was originally listed for $400,000, and the township will be guaranteed at least $320,000 from the sale, according to an agreement between the YSDC and township. The fire station went on the market in the summer.
According to Abel, the YSDC hopes to close on the property in late February or early March. A provision of the contract requests that the buyer return to the economic development group six months after closing with an update on the progress toward opening, she added.
YSDC process
The sale of the fire station was the first real estate transaction for the YSDC, which was formed earlier this year to promote economic development.
In a special online meeting on Sept. 22, the YSDC approved the sale by a vote of 7–1, with two abstentions. The vote followed an hour-long executive session on the matter that was not open to the public.
Voting “yes” were Abel; Van Ausdal; Steve Conn and Steve McQueen, who represent the school board; Lisa Kreeger, from Village Council; Hannah Montgomery, from Antioch College; and Karen Wintrow, from the Chamber of Commerce. (Wintrow has since left the community and the group.)
Village Council member Marianne MacQueen cast the lone “no” vote. Township Trustee Don Hollister and villager Patrick Lake abstained.
Reached for comment this week on her “no” vote, MacQueen said that she preferred another bidder’s proposal for the property, which was more “community-oriented” and provided a “much-needed community service.”
“That’s a prime location and I really wanted to see something that I thought would be a benefit for the whole community,” she said. MacQueen elaborated that she was looking for a proposal that not only served the whole community but also reflected the Yellow Springs community.
Two other “leading proposals” were considered, according to the press release. However, one of those contenders withdrew from consideration not long before the vote. All three of the final contenders were local, Abel confirmed.
“From the board’s position, this was the most thoughtfully designed and the best business plan,” Abel said of Chappelle’s plans, by comparison.
In response to a question from the News, Abel said that the winning proposal was not the proposal with the highest financial offer.
“We did not go with the highest bid,” she said.
Other inquiries into the property that didn’t make the final round of three included “several new business ideas” that “may need more time or funding to mature,” the release added.
Abel stated in the release that the process was “exciting for the Development Corporation” because “there are so many creative ideas for the use of commercial space in Yellow Springs.” The YDSC may revisit some of the proposals “as other real estate opportunities arise,” she added.
Ahead of the YSDC vote, the fire station subcommittee recommended that the larger group approve the sale to Chappelle’s company.
That group used a “scoring matrix” to evaluate the different proposals across the seven categories, Van Ausdal explained. From there the group looked at the three top contenders “with a magnifying glass,” she said. Moving forward, the group plans to learn from the experience and hone the process for other properties, Van Ausdal added.
Members of the subcommittee included Van Ausdal, who is one of two township representatives; Village Manager Josué Salmerón (who later left the subcommittee after a conflict of interest arose) and Jeannamarie Cox, director of the Yellow Springs Community Foundation. Taking Salmerón’s place was Community Foundation board member Roger Reynolds. Salmerón and Cox are invited participants, but not voting members, of the YSDC, and Reynolds is not a member of the group.
Other recent purchases
Chappelle has made several other local real estate purchases this year involving commercial properties or properties in the downtown area. Plans for some of the properties have been publicly disclosed, while others have not.
Iron Table Holdings closed on the historic Union School House at 314 Dayton St. on Dec. 3, buying the 1.6-acre property for $480,000. The 13,332-square-foot former school building built in 1872 has previously been the Village municipal offices and commercial rental spaces. It was listed in 2017 by former owner, local builder Jonathan Brown, for $590,000.
On Dec. 9, Chappelle’s company finalized the purchase of 150 Railroad St., the former home of local Chamber of Commerce Director Karen Wintrow and her husband, architect Ted Donnell, for $600,000. The property includes a 1,848-square-foot house and a 632-square-foot bungalow built in 2017, and is adjacent to a property that Chappelle purchased in 2015.
Other purchases this year include 403 Xenia Ave., a property donated to Antioch College by villagers Esther and David Battle last summer, for $390,000, and 309 Xenia Ave., home to Smoking Octopus, for $485,000.
In 2018, Iron Table Holdings purchased a downtown property encompassing three attached buildings at 239, 241 and 243 Xenia Ave. for $599,000. Both that property and the property at 403 Xenia Ave. were the subject of Village Planning Commission conditional use hearings in August. The downtown property is being renovated as a nail salon on the bottom floor and residence on the top floor, while the 403 Xenia Ave. property is set to become apartments, according to plans presented at the Planning Commission meeting.
27 Responses to “Chappelle to buy former fire station in Yellow Springs for comedy club”
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Here is link to interview I meant to add in my post:
https://www.wyso.org/local-and-statewide-news/2021-06-23/loud-as-the-rolling-sea-dr-yvonne-seon
WYSO recently interviewed Dave Chappelle’s mother. She is very beautiful and intelligent and inspiring woman. Dave is blessed!
Hi Mary! Can you clarify who are you asking to contact you this evening?
Let the village flourish. New faces are needed.
Please, call me tonight
Please call me tonight. I have a gift for you from Ed Oxley. The current wiener of Earth Rose. 9376678165. Thank you.
I love the fact that downtown is getting a shot of growth hormones. Thanks, Dave! Perhap a win-win-win-win for the comedy club, Antioch,the Glen, and the village in terms of needed parking and jobs would be to turn some campus space into parking spaces. This could give jobs to UBER/LYFT/taxi drivers conveying villagers and guests to and from home or the various parking lots. Parking lots have to be tended, providing jobs for youth, students, and seniors as parking attendants.
I did think of me one man I’d love to see in the village and this song right here says it all…..hope 2021 brings some more love. He been there before and love to see Dave welcome him back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhzEYhnW8pA
Comedy clubs is for young peoples. I wouldnt walk cross the street to see a celebrity lessen they was in need of drink of water to save themselves. Young folk be cool with all that. Good luck and don’t be no fool about lime lighters walking bout town now.
During my years at Antioch College I witnessed the joy of the Chappelle family’s presence since Dave was six years old. Having enjoyed his adult life as a premier Black comic, and prayed for him during his years of struggle I can certainly appreciate his gift to the community that mostly raised him. Throughout time I have noticed that small towns have always, and rightly so in many cases, had growth issues and resistance thereto. That doesn’t mean that something like can’t be a very positive thing for YSO. As for parking, create some spaces for the disabled, and the rest of us can walk to the laughter! It would do us good!
See the benefit in this development! Knowing Chappell, he was considering the secondary economic benefits this will offer the town e.g. Hotels, Dining, Fuel, Real Estate. Not only will the current industry thrive, new competitors will descend to the area and create further opportunities for the municipalities surrounding YS. It’s a win!
Land is said to be one of the, if NOT “the”, most valuable resources on our planet. As such, the Highest & Best use of it is deemed as ideal stewardship of it. Under all is The land.
Regards,
D. Bailey, Broker
D. Bailey & Associates Realty
OwnAtlantaNow.com
This could yet draw me back to Antioch College and YSO from my home in Seattle. For nearly a decade in the aughts and teens, I made the long schlep for meetings of the Antioch College Alumni Board. That ended more than five years ago because of a combination of internal board matters and the high cost of that travel. Dave Chappelle’s plans give me reason to reconsider.
The constant bombardment of news re Chappelle reads like a fishing expedition to call out White supremacists. Have any groups made comments simply because Dave’s Black? and Are they showing indications of objections based on race? Just curious.
Good Luck and Seasonal Greetings for a safe and prosperous 2021!
Yellow Springs once possessed a certain small village “third eye open” aura–a ‘mystique’of sorts– that is gradually closing to the necessity of common commercialism for sheer survival. It is a bittersweet advancement and, no doubt, will alter the fabric of the village. Those who choose not to adapt will appreciate memories or move along. Either way, as they say, “it is what it is.” Have a safe holiday and practice the covid-19 protocols please. Peace.
A big shout out and thanks to you, Dave Chappelle, for holding YS so close to your heart and continuing to support our special village. Plans for the comedy club look fantastic and I can’t wait to see what you have in store for the Union Schoolhouse!
Yellow Springs will become what everybody else has tried to move away from. That’s a bummer! Once you lose what ya Love about a community there’s no going back. Think about it.
Asking that the Council PLEASE look into parking solutions. Those of us who work and/or live downtown are already struggling for parking. Can we get spaces reserved? Something, anything? I’m not against the business, just worried for those of us with accessibility issues.
This sounds amazing!
I travelled from NY for several of the outdoor shows this summer and fell in love with YS. I can’t wait to come back and support this venue, the surround shops and explore more of the town.
This is thrilling! Dave loves Yellow Springs, that’s for sure. Hope I can afford to buy some tickets AND stay awake to watch some shows!!! Love to the Chappelles.
Why has the Village continually mentioning the need to eliminate parking standards, got it. Good luck downtowners, bye bye Beatty* …
Confident this will be just another movement for the Salvation, success. and victory for the much appreciated leader, Mr. Dave Chappelle.
You’re probably going to need a bigger police force to accommodate the influx of strangers patronizing the club. Oh, and I’m assuming cameras will be allowed unless it is a private membership type of facility. If there be magic mushrooms, antics of such might be filmed for further contemplative study of their use. You go, Dave!
They shut him down in the cornfields… Buy the building! Pray its a success and I will definitely support.
It’s unusual for an entertainer to want such a venue in their own vicinity, especially a ‘village,’ isn’t it? I don’t imagine it will hurt YS local economy, but the YSO ‘of the past’ is exactly that. Best wishes, Merry Christmas 🙂
Capacity of 140 people with 9 parking spaces? Are those parking spaces for buses?
Not sure where Yellow Spring, Ohio is, you just keep, keeping on.
Thank you Mr. Chappelle for continuing to invest in YS.
One problem – YS already has a horrid parking problem which keeps me going elsewhere to shop, eat out, etc. I’m curious how 140 people (occupancy) and 9 parking spaces will work out for your new club. Good luck!