Water Damage Restoration in Ann Arbor, MI

ANN ARBOR, MI – A coffee shop and farm-fresh grocer has spent a decade as a source for local produce for Ann Arborites.

Argus Farm Stop opened in 2014 at 325 W. Liberty St. in what was once a gas station. Founders Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample envisioned a neighborhood cafe serving locally-sourced produce alongside hand-crafted coffee using RoosRoast beans and local beer and wine.

Brinkerhoff and Sample were inspired by a similar farm market concept in Wooster, Ohio, which showcased the fruits of local farms every day as an add-on to the local weekly farmer’s market.

In their research of the farm scene around Ann Arbor, the couple stumbled across the building that became their first location. When their friend and local developer Alex de Parry bought the building in 2013, it had most recently been a medical marijuana dispensary called the Grass Station.

“This was a boarded up building with a bunch of mattresses in the basement,” Sample said. “Community and serendipity come together when you’re trying to do something that’s going to benefit everybody.”

By their grand opening in August the next year, the store was fully reshaped with a coffee counter, produce wall and corn stalks growing on its roof. Longtime partner Chad Brennan, who owns Crust bakery in Fenton, set up a table outside serving fresh-baked bread with sea salt butter.

The couple’s vision of the business as an outlet for local farmers who depend heavily on the city’s twice-a-week farmer’s market in Kerrytown quickly became a reality.

When it opened, Argus Farm Stop showcased the work of 20 local farmers. Now, that number is upwards of 200. The couple added a second location on Packard Road in 2017, splitting up their concept on either end of the block with a cafe on one corner and a market on the other.

“The farmer’s market is one way to sell local produce, and it’s a great way for community,” Sample said. “But we knew there were a lot of people who weren’t making it to market - we figured at least 20 for every person who was at the market.. turns out it’s way higher.”

Vendors at Argus Farm Stop provide their produce, baked goods or products like honey or coffee for sale on consignment - 70 percent of the proceeds from each sale go to the vendor. That business model means the margins for the grocery side are slim, but Sample said the cafe helps make up for the whole store’s operating costs.

“This forms community,” she said. “We can have a conversation at the register, and you can’t ignore that right there are all these gorgeous vegetables.”

The cafe offers fresh pastries each day from Fenton-based Crust bakery, an early partner of the market, as well as Ypsilanti’s Bird Dog Bakery and Ann Arbor-based Harvest Kitchen, Market Manager Michael McLoughlin said. About 80 percent of bakery items stay on the menu year-round, while seasonal items like an apple Danish or pumpkin muffin change each month.

The cafe also offers seasonal drinks like a Fireside Latte made with espresso, caramel and spice mix and a “chaider” made form local apple cider, chai and cinnamon.

Customers can dine inside in a heated greenhouse-style addition or on the restaurant’s outdoor patio.

Since opening their second location on Packard in 2017, Argus Farm Stop has added an “unfrozen” section for meats and pre-prepared meals and a weekly produce box that customers can pick up from seven different locations across the city.

“At this point we’ve put - through this model - over $22 million into local farms. That’s a lot of money when you think about what we’re doing.” “We give them a report that says ‘this is what you sold, this is the price’ and if it’s prepared food, we let them know if anything dated out… our waste rate is super low.”

On Thursday morning, local Paw Paw farmer David Swain stopped by to drop off several grocery bags full of the uncommon tropical fruit, which is endemic to Michigan.

“This was a good year for Paw Paws,” Swain said as Sample added his harvest to a display showcasing the fruits of five other area Paw Paw farmers.

Sample describes the store’s constantly rotating selection of fresh produce as “a Tetris game of groceries.” Although seasonal highlights sell well, Sample and her employees takes the time to showcase each farm.

“You get all these people who are bringing stuff with such pride that you want to curate it well. You can’t be lame - it has to be gorgeous.” she said. “And in a place like this you can meet the guy who grew it.”

Argus Farm Stop on Liberty is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The locations at 1200 and 1226 Packard are open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day, respectively.

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ANN ARBOR, MI — Fuller Road is out and Depot Street is in as Ann Arbor aims to build a new train station.

And it could be a mixed-use development with housing above, according to the latest idea city leaders are kicking around.

After many years of pursuing building a train station in part of Fuller Park in front of the University of Michigan medical complex — a debated concept the federal government didn’t support — city leaders now have their sights set on reimagining the current Amtrak station location on Depot Street.

“And in our view, that reimagination needs to be more than just a center where you buy tickets and get on a train,” City Administrator Milton Dohoney said. “We believe that we need to explore the possibility of potentially housing on top of a reimagined ticket center, and vertical development at that site is certainly physically possible.”

What that might look like and who might partner with the city remains to be seen, Dohoney said.

“But if you don’t have a vision, you will always be at a minimal level of growth, and we can’t afford to do that,” he said.

Ann Arbor officials started thinking about the need for a new train station in 2005-2006 while developing the city’s Model for Mobility, and in 2009 City Council voted to move forward with pursuing building a station along Fuller Road.

After over a decade of planning and design, with the feds pushing the city to give further consideration to keeping the station on Depot Street, the city was dealt a blow in 2021 when federal officials balked at the city’s plans, which included potentially over 1,300 car parking spaces in a massive deck along Fuller Road and a price tag that ballooned to $171 million.

The Federal Railroad Administration effectively pulled the plug on the Fuller Road project then, saying it wasn’t interested in giving it further consideration for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, Ann Arbor’s modest station on Depot Street, built in the 1980s as a replacement for the historic Michigan Central Railroad depot next door, remains by far the busiest stop on the Amtrak line between Detroit and Chicago, with nearly 144,000 boardings and deboardings in 2023. Described by some as an “Amshack,” it’s a ticket office with a small waiting area.

As Ann Arbor grows and densifies, there’s a need to reimagine the city’s train station, Dohoney said, and it’s going to require state or federal help to do that.

He hopes the city can secure a planning grant to reignite a planning process and expects it will take years before a new station is realized and the city will have to be patient.

Some residents still want the city to consider reclaiming the historic depot next door, a castle-like building with stone walls that served as a grand passenger train station for the city from the late 1800s through much of the 1900s. Since the 1970s, it has been home to the Gandy Dancer restaurant, which some residents have suggested trying to relocate to a new riverfront restaurant space planned a stone’s throw away at the Broadway Park West site now under development.

The city has not given any thought to that, Dohoney said, and instead is thinking about vertical construction on Depot Street.

Retrospective: How Ann Arbor lost its historic train depot and why some want it back

The developer behind the Broadway Park West project declined to comment.

There’s no reason Ann Arbor can’t have more than just a basic train station and hopefully there will be other partners who can buy into the vision, Dohoney said. But at this point, the city doesn’t yet have a commitment from the federal government to get a planning process started.

The city needs to be pragmatic and needs to have the support of the federal government, and the feds simply will not support a train station on Fuller Road, Dohoney said, so the vision must focus on what’s possible at the Depot Street site.

“Now we just have to see if we can pull the resources and bring a potential deal together for City Council to consider and for the community to get behind,” he said.

All aboard in Ann Arbor: What Ohio can learn from Michigan when it comes to Amtrak service

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A proposal on the Ann Arbor November ballot asks voters to establish a fund to help local candidates fund their elections. But its legality is still unclear.

Proposal D would establish what’s being called a “Fair Elections Fund” using 0.3 of 1% of Ann Arbor’s General Fund for the public financing of candidates for Mayor and City Council.

John Godfrey with the Coalition for Ann Arbor’s Future says the fund will help take the influence of money out of local elections. He says successful candidates are raising big bucks to run for office.

“So clearly, what we are seeing is an influx of money into our local elections, and money is choosing our candidates rather than voters.”

But Proposal D has many detractors, including the Ann Arbor League of Women Voters, the NAACP and most elected officials, including Mayor Christopher Taylor.

“We don’t have $425,000 to pay out to political candidates. Further, the proposal is extremely ill-designed.”

The State Attorney General’s office says proposal would violate state law.

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ANN ARBOR, MI – Football’s Little Brown Jug will stay in Ann Arbor after Michigan held off Minnesota Saturday, Sept. 28. But there’s another Brown Jug that stays in town no matter the outcome.

The Brown Jug Restaurant in the heart of Ann Arbor offers some serious deals, too. If you’re looking for a drink that’s big on size but easy on the wallet, the Brown Jug has you covered with 22-ounce Long Islands for just $8.

The Best in the Midwest is a mix of rum, gin, vodka, blue island schnapps, and sour mix topped with a splash of Sprite for that sweet fizz. It’s basically like a giant, boozy blue Kool-Aid. Super sugary and way different than your traditional Long Island.

RELATED: Take a look at Harbaugh’s famous Brown Jug burger - a tasty dish at a historic Ann Arbor bar

I like my Long Islands traditional with only a touch of cola and lime to accompany the five ounces of alcohol. But after a long day of tailgating, pre-gaming and concession drinks at a Wolverine football game, you might need a break.

The white liquors in the Best in the Midwest are masked by the sugar and schnapps, giving this drink a Michigan blue vibe — perfect for game day or a fun night out in the city.

So, if you need something tasty and light after the next home game, the Brown Jug’s Long Island will hit the spot without hitting your wallet too hard.

DRINK OF THE WEEK

The Best in the Midwest at The Brown Jug

Address: 1204 S. University Ave.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 2 a.m. Sunday.

Price: $8

If you have a drink or cocktail you’d like Santino Mattioli to try, email him at smattioli@mlive.com.

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