Once Fingerle Lumber Co. 
closes its doors Saturday, Arbor 
Bar, an entity of Union Joints, 
will move forward with plans to 
open a restaurant on Fingerle’s 
former 
45,000-square-foot 
site at South Main Street. They 
presented a restaurant proposal 
to the Ann Arbor Design Review 
Board on Feb. 13. Curt Catallo, 
co-owner 
of 
Union 
Joints 
restaurant group, feels confident 
about their plan to repurpose the 
old storage sheds of the Fingerle 
Millworks building by turning it 
into a two-story restaurant.
After 88 years of business, 

Fingerle will close on Saturday. 
Fingerle 
is 
a 
family-owned 
business that has been operating 
in downtown Ann Arbor since 
1931. 
The 
third-generation 
owners, brothers John and Mark 
Fingerle, will retire once they 
close their business. Fingerle 
did not respond to requests for 
comment. 
Catallo noted that all of the 
lumber came from Fingerle 
when their first restaurant, 
the Clarkston Union, was built 
in 1995. Additionally, Union 
Joints co-owner Ann Stevenson, 
Catallo’s wife, lived in Ann Arbor 
for several years and has always 
appreciated the site. Catallo said 
Union Joints is honored to have 

this opportunity. 
“This 
Fingerle 
Millworks 
building just checked all the 
boxes,” Catallo said. “It’s a 
building and a site that we 
fell in love with years ago and 
we’re very proud to be able to 
repurpose it and create a little 
something down by the railroad 
tracks.”
Catallo felt that this project 
naturally unfolded due to his 
team’s 
familiarity 
with 
the 
company, land and the city of 
Ann Arbor.
“In a way, we obviously knew 
the mill building and then it 
kind of came to us organically 
in that we knew it was there and 
we felt that it was a good fit,” 
Catallo said. “Friends told us 
about it and then we really 
worked with the Fingerles 
to try to make it so you could 
repurpose 
that 
structure 
not knowing what they were 
doing with the larger parcels 
that they sold to U of M.”
On Dec. 6, the University of 
Michigan’s Board of Regents 
authorized the $24 million 
purchase of 6.54 acres of 
another piece of Fingerle’s 
property located along Fifth 
Avenue and south of East 
Madison 
Street, 
but 
the 
University’s plan for this land 
remains up in the air.
Catallo said the restaurant’s 
working 
title 
is 
“Fort 
Fingerle,” and the goal is to 
bring to life the expansive 
concrete on the lawn by 
making a commons area, as 
well as to include a bar area 
on the second floor that leads 
out to a “groovy, charming” 
rooftop.
“We’ll have a little portion 
of it dedicated to carry-out 
and dedicated to grab-and-
go,” Catallo said. “Between 
that element, the rooftop, the 

restaurant, and then the way we 
activate the sheds, it’s just going 
to be something that you don’t 
find anywhere else because you 
can only do it if you have a little 
micro-campus 
like 
Fingerle 
has.”
Catallo also shut down recent 
rumors about the proposal also 
being for a brewpub.
“We’ve always been able to 
buy better beer than we could 
make and we’ve stuck to that,” 
Catallo said. “It has allowed us 
to focus on scratch-producing all 
of our food and then partnering 
with different brewers that are 
proud of practicing their craft. 
We’ve always been happy to 
support micro-breweries and 
craft breweries and focus on the 
kind of comfort food that we’re 
proud to create. That’s the same 
with what we’ll do at this space.”
All of Union Joints’ projects 
thus far have involved taking an 
old building and repurposing it, 
while still respecting its original 
purpose and structure.
“We’re familiar with Ann 
Arbor, but I don’t know if Ann 
Arbor is necessarily familiar 
with 
Union 
Joints,” 
said 
Catallo. “We’ve been proudly 
repurposing 
buildings 
since 
1995 
and 
practicing 
place-
making in these buildings that 
always served one purpose and 
were destined to serve another. 
And we think that this Fingerle 
Millworks building just checked 
all the boxes.”
Catallo emphasized they are 
not going to change Fingerle’s 
footprint or original purpose 
through 
their 
development. 
Rather, he feels this is an 
opportunity to have something 
old become new again.
Jack 
Ferber, 
a 
Business 
freshman at the University, said 
he appreciates Union Joints’ 
intentions in honoring the lot’s 

VIRTUAL RE ALIT Y: INSIDE A SL AUGHTE RHOUSE

ON THE DAILY: U-M DENTAL TO PROVIDE FREE DENTAL CARE TO CHILDREN

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: U DEVELOPS ANTI -RACISM 
WORKSHOPS

On March 30, the University of 
Michigan School of Dentistry will 
provide free dental care to children 
aged 4 to 18. The annual event, 
Give Kids a Smile Day, seeks to help 
communities that may have trouble 
accessing dental care, such as those 
in low-income communities, those 
without health insurance and those 

with accessibility issues. The event will 
take place at the University’s Dentistry 
School on North University Avenue 
and aims to serve 80 families. 
Dental student Mary Claire Kiernan 
said the event is part of the American 
Dental 
Association 
Foundation’s 
“Give Kids a Smile” initiative. Forty 
people attended the event last year 
and just over 60 children are currently 
registered for this year’s event. 
Kiernan said dental decay is 

widespread among children, worsened 
by obstacles to dental care access. 
“Today, dental decay is the most 
common childhood disease in the US,” 
Kiernan wrote in an email interview 
with The Daily. “To further complicate 
this, there are many barriers to access 
to oral health care. Give Kids a Smile 
Day serves to provide our community 
with the services they need as well 
as offer education and preventative 
care in order to promote lifelong oral 

health.”
According to the Michigan State 
Oral Health Plan, Michigan has a 
percentage of children with excellent 
or very good health higher than the 
national average (76 percent compared 
to 71 percent). Still, the National Survey 
of Children’s Health said 12 percent 
of young children and 11 percent of 
adolescents did not go to the dentist’s 
office for a preventative visit during the 
past year. 

March 26, 1987
A plan to add workshops on 
racism, sexism, and bigotry to the 
freshman summer orientation 
is in the developmental stages, 
according 
to 
Robin 
Jacoby, 
administrative assistant to Vice 
President and Provost James.
“People have been thinking 
about this proposal for a while,but 
a mandate has come in the last few 

weeks,” Jacoby said. “The BAM 
III it and UCAR demands gave a 
further impetus to the proposal.”
The University’s offices of 
housing 
and 
orientation 
are 
responsible for developing the 
programs, 
which 
include 
a 
workshop to be conducted during 
the fall in all residence halls. 
Housing officials could not be 
reached for comment last night. 

The workshops may fulllfill one 
of the United Coalition Against 
Racism’s proposals that demanded 
the establishment of a mandatory 
workshop 
on 
racism. 
UCAR 
members were not involved in 
planning the program.
According to Marty Ellington, 
a UCAR member and LSA senior, 
“UCAR will go over the programs 
and make recommendations to 

the administration.”
UCAR member James McGee, 
a first year medical student, said 
he was unaware of the plan and 
speculated that other UCAR 
members are also unfamiliar with 
it. McGee would not comment on 
this particular plan, but said, “Any 
program that opens students’ 
minds to diversity and encourages 
open discussion is good.” 

2A — Wednesday, March 27, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

DARBY STIPE/Daily
During Veg Week 2019, students and attendees used virtual reality to witness conditions in a slaughterhouse after listening to lawyer and activist 
Bee Friedlander and watching the documentary “Peaceable Kingdom” in the Dana Building Tuesday. Veg Week events are happening all week, 
hosted by the Michigan Animal Respect Society. 

TUESDAY:
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THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk
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Behind the Story

WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History 

MONDAY:
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New restaurant planned to open on 
former Fingerle lot in Ann Arbor

After 88 years of operation, family-owned lumber company will be replaced by eatery

ZAYNA SYED
Daily Staff Reporter 

KENDELL LEWIS
For The Daily

original use while adapting the 
space.
“I’m a huge fan of keeping 
integrity of buildings and I think 
that’s what this project seems 
to be trying to do,” Ferber said. 
“They’re trying to bring in a new 
age to an old building.”
Catallo said they intend to play 
a part in all of the action in the 
college town.
“Just with the way you can 
come in off of Main Street or 
Madison and whether it’s on 
a Wednesday or your way to a 
game at the Big House, we just 
think that people will use this 
building and this restaurant as 
they see fit,” Catallo said.
Ferber said he believes the 
new restaurant will do well by 
getting involved in student life.
“I think it’s a very, very cool 
idea that they’re keeping the 
building intact and they’re trying 
to get involved more with the 
University and the student body 
by making it a part of game day 
or a part of student life at night,” 

Ferber said. “I think it’s going to 
be financially successful because 
it seems to be in a good spot, 
and kids are always looking for 
meals outside of things they cook 
themselves or dining hall food.”
Business freshman Maggie 
Dahlmann said she believes 
this establishment will enhance 
the city and the University’s 
popularity and culture.
“I think it will have a really 
positive impact on the city, as 
restaurant culture is ingrained 
in Ann Arbor,” Dahlmann said. 
“Unique 
brands 
encourage 
tourism, which would make U 
of M an even more attractive 
university.”
Catallo said he is excited to 
share updates as his project 
progresses, such as what they’ve 
“got cooking menu-wise” and 
with the space.
“It’s been a while since the 
saws in there were milling trim,” 
Catallo said. “And now we’ll be 
milling food for people to enjoy, 
hopefully.”

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