Macotta Club delayed again as historic building presents challenges

The windows on the first floor of downtown Lansing’s historic Knapp’s Centre still advertise The Macotta Club as “coming 2024,” but the project is now expected to open sometime in 2026 following necessary design changes, according to Downtown Lansing Inc.

The project, a restaurant accelerator and food hall that plans to bring six restaurants and 16 “food concepts” to the building, was announced in April 2023 with plans to open the following year.

Multiple delays followed unexpected difficulties with the buildout, DLI spokesperson Jenea Markham and Eyde Development COO Mark Clouse said.

“There have been struggles with the design,” Clouse said. “It’s a building that was built nearly 100 years ago, and you’ve got a lot of unknowns even though the building was fully restored back in 2012 to 2014.”

Eyde Development owns and operates the Knapp’s Centre and is collaborating with DLI, Clouse said. DLI is not currently paying rent to Eyde Development or occupying the space, Clouse said.

“As they were working through the plans for the Macotta Club, things changed, the design of the kitchen and different items that required a lot of thoughtfulness, quite honestly,” Clouse said.

Markham said the updates were mostly focused “on the kitchen layouts, basement build-out, and other underground elements,” meaning the final design will be “largely consistent” with previous renderings, which can be seen on The Macotta Club’s website.

Markham said increased costs due to the redesign, challenges with the basement buildout and industry-wide increased material costs all led to the redesign, but it will allow DLI to stay within budget.

The Macotta Club is intended to operate independently after three years of operation. Much of its funding has come from grants, and its price tag has risen from around $4 million to over $8 million.

While the project is still ongoing, it’s currently unclear who will occupy the building.

Only two businesses have publicly signed on. Anke Grace, who signed on in 2023 to run a German restaurant called The German Place, did not respond to multiple requests for comment a month ago.

Marcus Leslie, Sr., who runs Mr. Leslie’s Cheesecakes signed on as part of The Macotta Club’s wholesale mentorship program in 2024, and Lake Trust Credit Union reported in a member impact story that he planned to open his first standalone location in The Macotta Club. He opened his first standalone location in Holt in April, and declined to comment for this story.

Public records show the Macotta Club received $15,000 from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s Going PRO Talent Fund in 2024 to assist in training 7 new hires or apprentices. That money was never allocated, as the training never occurred.

Markham and Clouse both said getting the design right the first time was a major priority and reason for the delay.

“We’ve been patient with one another,” Clouse said. “The goal was to have them open in 2024. That obviously didn’t happen, but we’re confident that we’re on the right track now.”

And amid new downtown developments such as Gentilozzi Real Estate’s New Vision Lansing project, a new city hall and the old city hall’s transition into a hotel and the Ovation Center for Music and Arts, 2026 may be a better time than any before for a project like The Macotta Club — if it opens that year.

“Sometimes things happen for a reason,” Clouse said. “We have a lot of activity happening downtown, with the Ovation, with city hall moving down to the southern part of downtown, and a lot of other exciting things happening.

“I think downtown will be more ready for them in a year than it would have been a year ago.”

— LEO V. KAPLAN