Plank’s Tavern, The Inn at Harbor Shores unveil big main floor remake

The planning is complete, the materials are already arriving and the team at The Inn at Harbor Shores & Plank’s Tavern is excited about a million-dollar-plus renovation project.

The work will begin January 5^th, immediately following the New Year’s weekend festivities. Much of the public area of the Inn’s main floor, dominated by Plank’s Tavern is in for a total remake. General Managing Partner Brady Cohen sat down with MoodyOnTheMarket.com to detail the plans:

“All the way from the front lobby area into the restaurant, it’s going to be a complete remodel. We’re tearing out all the flooring. The bar area is going to expand by double its size. We’re going to do a nice big wrap-around bar. All new tables, chairs, booths, paint, everything!”

Cohen said the project will help the place ‘live up’ even better to its name—‘Plank’s Tavern’– with the wall removed between the current bar and dining room and a much larger and welcoming bar.

“It will make it a little bit more cohesive. We’ve got a full horseshoe-shaped bar that’s going to go from the tavern side into the current dining room with that wall gone. We’ll add a couple new fireplaces, making it a little bit cozier atmosphere.”

Cohen said the new fireplaces will be in the dining area and near the front reception desk, especially appealing to families and small groups. An existing fireplace in one corner of the tavern area also stays. Bar and food service will be available throughout the space.

Brady reminded us that a full service hotel can’t just close its bar and restaurant for remodeling. Guests are arriving every day. So, The Inn will move its food and beverage services to the second floor, where it has substantial meeting space that overlooks the St. Joseph River.

“We will close the lower level and move all of our dining upstairs to the second floor. We’re hoping to be open by the 6th or the 7^th of January for temporary dining options. We’re still gonna serve breakfast lunch and dinner every day!”.

The Plank’s crew won’t sit still to serve their guests in a ‘temporary’ atmosphere. Along with a dining room in the large meeting space, Cohen says they’ll be launching an experiment—a new concept for an intimate bar/lounge atmosphere:

“We’re also gonna have a ‘speakeasy’ called ‘Slip 800’. We’ll take a portion of one of our meeting spaces and turn it into a little speakeasy type atmosphere. So instead of having just a temporary dining room upstairs, we’ll turn it into something special– a little bit of a speakeasy atmosphere, to try to encourage guests to come check out some different special cocktails and some new food options during those few weeks.”

We asked Brady for a little more definition on the ‘speakeasy’ concept.

“The whole vibe up there… It’s gonna be a little bit darker with couches, a little bit loungy, somewhere to come relax, enjoy some really good cocktails by Jasmine, our bar manager, and some nicer small plates. We’re gonna put up some sheers around the whole area and make it darker in there and just have some lounge style seating to give people something different to come experience in these colder months,”

He said the ‘speakeasy’ concept might become a long-term addition to the Inn. At this point it’s a fun trial balloon during the construction period that’s expected to last, optimistically, two and a half months.

Cohen said he and his investor-partners from Chicago and Grand Rapids decided to make the improvements before they were really necessary because keeping The Inn at Harbor Shores and Plank’s Tavern in a leadership position is a key priority for them. The Inn has been open eleven years and completed a total refresh of its guest room floors earlier this year.

“It’s a really exciting time for us and hopefully for the community just to reinvest back into the property. It’ll be a different atmosphere on the lower level and we’re super excited about it. The staff is excited.”