The Mill in Glen Arbor will launch its long anticipated restaurant this fall in the historic Braemmer flour mill on the Crystal River. The Mill announced its Supper Club on Instagram today with 12 dates between mid-October and mid-December. According to Kelsey Duda, owner of Fernhaus Studios, which manages The Mill, supper club tickets will start at $75 per person.
The much anticipated reopening of the historic Brammer gristmill on the Crystal River is near, though owner Turner Booth and the Fernhaus hospitality group have yet to name a date. On March 1 they introduced The Mill’s general manager Corey Smith on social media. Smith, a native of South Haven and a University of Michigan graduate, returned to the mitten state and joined The Mill team last May after working in real estate in New York City and hospitality in Hudson, a town in upstate New York.
“Yes” votes to approve Glen Arbor Township’s rezoning of the Brammer parcel next to the historic grist mill on the Crystal River as “recreational” overwhelmingly won a special zoning referendum today, August 3, with 342 votes in favor and 229 opposed.
Codified into laws and upheld by the courts, modern zoning ordinances have evolved to become the “laws of the land.” In Leelanau County, townships possess police power to enact and enforce zoning ordinances, while the county takes an advisory role through its planning commission.
The signs are seemingly everywhere around Glen Arbor this summer: the black and white “VOTE YES! Save The Mill” up against the red white and blue “Glen Arbor Zoning Proposal VOTE NO.” Here’s what at stake. During the primary election on Tuesday, August 3, Glen Arbor Township residents will vote to either approve, or overturn, the Township Board’s decision on February 16, by a 4-1 vote, to rezone the Brammer parcel next to the historic, 1870s era Kelderhouse-Brammer grist mill on the Crystal River from “residential” to “recreational.”
Glen Arbor was described in 2011 by the Good Morning America TV show as “The Most Beautiful Place in America.” Today Glen Arbor Township, which has experienced unprecedented growth pressure as a resort destination, faces a community reckoning. It involves a new resident with ambitious development plans, deep pockets, and close partnership with regional heavy hitters; longtime neighbors; zoning irregularities; and old wounds from a 40-year-old environmental controversy.
Full coverage of the Crystal River gristmill and the Brammer family that owned it, Turner Booth and his bid to revive the mill, the Township Board’s effort to rezone the neighboring Brammer parcel from “residential” to “recreational” and the community’s response, in the run-up to Glen Arbor Township’s August 3, 2021, zoning referendum.
The historic, 1870s era Kelderhouse-Brammer grist mill on the Crystal River is a step closer to being reborn—potentially next summer—as a museum, a café, and a community gathering space. Turner Booth, the ambitious entrepreneur who acquired the mill from The Homestead Resort two years ago, secured a site plan approval from the Glen Arbor Planning Commission on November 5.
Turner Booth, a former University of Michigan football player who left the New York City legal grind to follow his Glen Arbor dreams, is now the proud owner of the Kelderhouse-Brammer mill on the Crystal River.
Robert Kuras, owner of The Homestead, has announced that the historic grist mill and miller’s residence on the banks of the Crystal River in Glen Arbor have been sold to The Mill Glen Arbor, LLC. The acquiring entity is owned and operated by Turner Booth, a Michigan native who has relocated to Glen Arbor to rehabilitate and preserve the historic structures. Turner is a graduate of the University of Michigan and U of M Law School.