Preserving the Past, Building the Future

Working with Joel Spitz on revitalizing the Historic Shaftburg Hotel, a property which has been in his family for more than 100 years, has been such a joy for Lionbear Ventures! He had the following wonderful words to say about the grant opportunity:

"I've been working with LionBear Ventures since May of 2024. I was first introduced to them through the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership while working with Justin Horvath, CEcD trying to save my family's dilapidated hotel from falling to the ground. My vision to save it was clear.

How I was going to get there was another story. I needed help finding funding when I wasn't sure it was available. I had an initial meeting with Lionbear Ventures describing my situation and what I thought the vision should be for the property. They were completely on board.

There was a grant for the interior that we would definitely need that was ending in July. Sarah became my main point of contact and she worked what felt like around the clock to make sure we were submitted in time, and we made the deadline!

For reasons out of our control, we did not end up getting that grant on that round, but a much better thing ended up happening. A grant that was closed, and we thought was off the table opened up in the 11th hour and Sarah and Ashley jumped in doing everything possible to make sure we put our best case together to get it.

We ended up getting it, and the order of getting this particular grant first, was a HUGE burden lifted on the project due to the issues it addresses.

Sarah, Ashley and Jessalyn have all been extremely helpful throughout this process, and their knowledge of the inner workings of these grants is 2nd to none.

I look forward to working with them more in the future and continuing our partnership. Without their help this project wouldn't have happened. The community, as well as my family would have lost a long standing piece of history. We are forever grateful for Lionbear Ventures." - Joel Spitz