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Construction is scheduled to begin on a 7,560 square foot strip mall this fall on the former Ride-On CafŽ property in downtown Port Sanilac.

Nicholas Lavdas purchased the property on northwest corner of the intersection of M-25 and M-46 from the Downtown Development Authority for about $150,000.

DDA Chairman Chester Kolascz stated Lavdas was interested in the property because of the new RV campground in Forester.

"He knows the RV owner. One of the reasons he thought investing in Port Sanilac would be a good investment. It is bringing traffic to Port Sanilac, he feels the area is poised to grow," said Kolascz.

Lavdas, who owns a horse ranch and hunts and fishes in the area, said he noticed how bad the empty corner looked and wanted to do something to improve it.

The retail center is Phase I of the project.

Lavdas, who owns a jewelry business in metro-Detroit, is in the process of looking for tenants for the retail center.

He said he is looking for a five businesses, including a laundromat, bait store, ice cream parlor, and coffee shop. The developer said he works with a lot of chain stores but they do not want to come to the village because Port Sanilac lacks the population density they require. The 2000 census shows a population of 658, a large percentage of whom are seasonal residents.

Lavdas said they are going out for bids on the construction now and will probably start construction this year.

Lavdas and the DDA signed a purchase agreement in July 2007, but the sale of the long vacant building was delayed while fuel contamination clean up paperwork and testing was completed. Before its brief life as a restaurant, the building housed a gas station for years.

With the village underwriting the purchase, the DDA bought the property for $275,000 in 2004 in order to bring more businesses to the downtown. It was actually Kolascz who bought the property from the former owner, who had been feuding with the village for years. The DDA reimbursed him. Although the DDA had the property listed for $300,000, they accepted the offer $150,000 because the developer planned to put $1.2 million into the property, Kolascz explained.

Kolascz said the North Carolina developer interested in the Blue Water Inn property on the northeast corner of the main intersection wants to restore the building to a turn of the century mode.

The DDA has obtained a $200,000 historical preservation and job creation grant from the state, and expects developer Jeanne Harper to put up $300,000. Harper owns a cottage near Deckerville.

A third property the DDA owns is the former Dry Dock Restaurant, which the owners of the Raymond Hardware want to buy. They want to demolish the building and construct a laundromat.

The village is in the process of trying to get the lien on the Dry Dock released so the project can go ahead.