Who gets to stand on the roof of 419 Phoenix Street? The city's answer changed over the summer. In July, the answer was hotel guests only. By the second week of September, the answer included everyone else.
Most coverage of the former Golden Brown Bakery stops at "a hotel was approved." The bigger change for people who live here came in a council deviation added between two votes. It reopens the building to the public, four floors up, with harbor views. The building has served the public for most of its life, and the new plan keeps it that way.
A Room Downtown Has Gathered In for Decades
Before it sold doughnuts, the building at 419 Phoenix was the Model Theater, which operated there in the 1940s and 1950s. It was later bought and converted into a bakery, most recently Golden Brown Bakery, according to the city of South Haven.
The bakery is older than its Phoenix Street address. Sisters Nona MacKenzie and Blanche Rosenberger founded it in 1938 as a roadside bake stand between Covert and South Haven, and it later moved downtown. Sources disagree on the early names. WGRD's closing coverage says it started as MacKenzie's Bakery. The city's historical timeline says it opened as Golden Brown in 1938, became MacKenzie's Bakery in 1948 and went back to Golden Brown in the late 1970s. That timeline also records the bakery donating blueberry pies for community celebrations.
Dave and Barrie Braschler were the last owners. Dave ran the bakery for 41 years. The couple announced it would close at the end of 2024 so they could retire. The closing announcement mentioned powdered-sugar doughnuts, long johns and a full breakfast-and-lunch counter. Dave's own description of the place was direct:
"Our bakery has been more than just a business. It's been my home, a community gathering place, and a source of pride."
That history matters for the next part. When a downtown storefront like this becomes a 12-room hotel, the usual risk is that a public room turns into a private one. The first version of the plan did exactly that.
The Condition That Changed Between July and September
Developer Cottage Home and a company named Model Theater LLC proposed turning the 4,900-square-foot parcel into a four-story building. The ground floor would hold commercial retail space and a lobby. The second and third floors would hold six hotel rooms each. The top floor would be a rooftop event space with open green space, covered outdoor areas and views of the harbor.
On July 9, the South Haven Planning Commission recommended the project, with conditions. One of them, as MLive reported in July, was that the fourth-floor event space be "reserved exclusively for guests of the hotel."
Later, the development team asked to allow public events of up to 90 people across the rooftop's indoor and outdoor areas. When City Council approved the preliminary development plan and rezoning on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the resolution included a deviation allowing public use of the rooftop. The Herald-Palladium's account described the space as "available for general public use, as well as for hotel guests."
| Planning Commission, July 9 | City Council, Sept. 8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Rooftop use | Hotel guests only | Public events allowed, plus hotel guests |
| Event capacity discussed | Not specified | Up to 90 people, indoor and outdoor |
| Off-site parking | Electric carts to off-site lots | About 50 spaces secured off-site, with a shuttle |
| On-site parking | Two-space garage after one alley space was removed | Two on-site spaces |
| Height | Four stories, 47 feet | Four stories, 47 feet |
The height deviation and the rooftop are linked. The Central Business District caps buildings at three stories and 45 feet. The fourth floor, the one now cleared for public events, is the reason the project needed a variance to reach 47 feet. Those extra two feet and one extra story exist for the event space.
Support came from outside City Hall too. In a letter to the Planning Commission, Visit South Haven Executive Director Jennifer Sistrunk called the project a boutique hotel. She wrote that "developments of this scale contribute incrementally to lodging capacity and align with demand for walkable, downtown accommodations."
Ninety People, Two On-Site Spaces
Opening the rooftop to the public is what turned parking into the main debate. A guests-only rooftop serves people who already have a room and a parking plan. A public rooftop brings in people who don't.
The building's footprint leaves almost no room for cars. In July, a resident told the Planning Commission that the alley behind the property is already congested. The commission responded by requiring the developer to drop a third parking space planned along that alley. That leaves two on-site spaces for a building that, according to Cottage Home's Eric Leatherberry, could hold about 90 people with every hotel room occupied and the event space full.
The developers' answer is an off-site lot. "We have acquired a piece of property that would accommodate parking," Leatherberry told council. MLive reported the property can hold about 50 cars. Event guests would ride a shuttle downtown, and hotel guests would get an electric golf cart to use during their stay. None of the published coverage gives the lot's location.
Council member Mary Hosley pressed the point that matters most to anyone who parks on Phoenix Street, and WSJM recorded the exchange:
"How do you stop someone from parking downtown and walking to the event?" Hosley asked. "Good question," Leatherberry said. "I don't know."
Council member Dave Flack took the other side. He said the rooftop "could bring some very cool energy to the town and a lot of vitality," and that he doesn't think the downtown parking squeeze is as bad as some people say. Hosley voted against the resolution, citing parking and event noise. The rest of council supported it, and the follow-up zoning map amendment passed unanimously. According to the Herald-Palladium, nobody spoke at the public hearing that night.
What Still Has to Happen Before Anyone Books the Roof
September's approval was preliminary. The rules for public events on the roof, and how those guests will get there, are still being written. As of Oct. 5, 2026, these steps are still open:
- Final site plan review. After council's approval, the developers still have to go back to the Planning Commission for final site plan review. We found no agenda date for that review yet. Planning Commission agendas and minutes are posted through the city's online meetings page.
- A detailed parking plan. Leatherberry said a more specific plan will be submitted to the city later. That plan should answer how the shuttle works and where the off-site lot is.
- An opening date. In a July 2026 report, the developers said the hotel could open "by next summer." Counting from that date, that would be summer 2027, though the report doesn't name a year. That estimate came before council changed the rooftop rules and before final site plan review. No newer date has been published.
Whatever happens with the schedule, the plan council approved does three things for downtown. It keeps a storefront on the ground floor, adds 12 rooms within walking distance of the harbor, and gives the old Model Theater building a public event room again, this time on the roof.
Downtown projects like 419 Phoenix change how buyers see the blocks around them, and the parking plan still to be filed will matter to anyone who owns nearby. If you own a home or condo within walking distance of Phoenix Street and want to know how this changes things for your property, Amy O'Sullivan will put together a current, block-level home valuation and keep you updated as the final site plan goes back to the Planning Commission. Get your home valuation.
