Local Developer to Restore Downtwon Oshtemo Township

Oshtemo Township, MI - The Texas Corral Grill & Saloon comes to Kalamazoo. The restaurant opened at the former site of a Russ’ restaurant in Oshtemo Township. Steve Montayne, a local Kalamazoo developer is responsible for restoration of the old Russ’ restaurant into the new The Western-theme restaurant. The restaurant is part of a six-store privately held chain based in Merrillville, Ind. The Oshtemo location will seat about 200 people inside and about 40 outside.

Montayne, owner of Damon’s, said he is now turning his attention to redeveloping the former Damon’s site. He announced that Damon’s would be temporarily closed as its site is revamped into a strip mall, in partnership with Kalamazoo-based development company PlazaCorp. According to Montayne Damon’s will not reopen. The space will be used for other retail businesses instead. The $5 million redevelopment project will include an 18,000-square-foot building that will be fronted by two additional buildings of about 2,000 square feet and 3,000 square feet. Construction will probably begin in the fall and be completed before the end of the year. The building that housed Damon’s is to be demolished in mid- to late summer.

“We are pursuing various tenants,” the owner and developer said. “We thought this would be a better use of the land. That neighborhood and its traffic patterns have changed. We feel that it’s underserved by retail.” Possible retail tenants for the development include food-service providers, a small restaurant and a salon, Montayne said.