One of the iconic buildings in the Benton Harbor Arts District is in an ownership transition—and there may be a role for you to play in seeing it through to conclusion.
Mike and Sarah Nadolski have owned the Citadel Dance Center Building (with its Oak Room public space) at 91 Hinkley Street since 2012. They are in the process of selling it via a land contract to the Citadel Dance and Music Center Board, assuring its public use in the decades ahead.
In an interview with MoodyOntheMarket.com, Mike Nadolski reported that the fund-raising effort to secure a down payment and close the transaction is proceeding well. However, if the down payment can be quickly put behind them, fund-raisers can focus on the bulk of the $600,000 that is required to purchase and make needed repairs to the Citadel building. He points out that the price is a bargain for the non-profit organization, as a recent professional appraisal of a similar building in ghe Arts District came in at $950,000.
The Nadolski’s told us they were willing to sell the building to the Dance and Music Center at a ‘less than makret’ price because they are committed to the Benton Harbor Arts District and the goals and mission of the Citadel Dance and Music Center.
According to its website, The Citadel currently provides year-round instruction to nearly 300 students and has brought these benefits to thousands of families since its founding. The Citadel has 25 professional, experienced faculty who provide year-round programming for all ages. In fact, Citadel students have gone on to college programs, and have had professional careers in dance and/or music.
Following his retirement in early 2023 as the full-time director of the Lake Michigan Colllege Mendel Center, Nadolski has focused on operating and maintaining the Citadel/Oak Room facility and several projects on which he would now like to concentrate: TORP—The Oak Room Players Improvisational group which performs regularly at the Oak Room and elsewhere, and the use of improvisational techniques and skills in communication and business situations.
Nadolski has been consulting several professional sales forces on how ‘improv’ can assist them in communicating with and presening information to their prospective customers. He says that is an exciting new area in which he hopes to develop a significant consulting business.
Before he can do that, Nadolski feels a strong responsibility to ensure that the Citadel building—and its unique role in the Arts District—is in the proper hands going forward. He explained those deep bonds with a building in a recent post on his Facebook page:
In the late 1990’s Scott Elliott gave me a tour of the old Salvation Army Regional Headquarters Building in the hopes that I would be interested in partnering with him, in some way, to restore the Oak Room. They had recently purchased the 91 Hinkley building and were already hard at work restoring the old gymnasium for a new dance studio for the Citadel Dance Center.
The Oak Room was a terrible mess and I ended up renting a small storefront from Isaac Duncan III at 132 Pipestone instead. At that time, it was the recently vacated Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, and I converted it into Bridges Theatre and Workshop where improv workshops and performances designed to bring people together happened for the next nearly five years. It now houses Houndstooth Restaurant. Spectacular – check it out!
In the late ‘90’s, Susan Dietrich-Reed (Citadel Executive Director and Music Director), who was running the Salvation Army Music Program, was one of the first people in town to hire me to do improvisational workshops.
Meanwhile, Scott Elliott and Eileen Cropley forged ahead with renovating the Oak Room and the rest of the Citadel Dance Center Building. On New Year’s Eve 2003, Bridges Theatre performed one of the very first public events in the newly renovated Oak Room.
Fast forward to 2009. Another special event happened in the Oak Room. Sarah and I were married there on October 3 of that year.
Through many years, paths kept intersecting. Lari Lawrence Gist (Citadel Dance Director) and I worked together with Children’s Music Workshop (CMW), local music composer and pianist Larry Schanker (and Brookview Montessori Executive Director) – who I worked with at Practical Theatre Co. in Chicago – told me more than once that I ought to find a way to get involved with the Citadel. Both of my children took music lessons there with Susan Deitrich-Reed and others. Scott and Eileen and Sarah and I kept in contact through various Benton Harbor Arts District events.
One thing led to another and then in the fall of 2011 Sarah and I bought 91 Hinkley, the Citadel Dance Center building. It was an emotional decision made out of love for the arts district and respect and appreciation of the work of Scott and Eileen and Susan and Lari and everyone who had worked so tirelessly and passionately and professionally to build a world class dance and music center right here in our community.
Scott and Eileen were ready to step aside and pass the baton off to us – and ready or not – we were willing to step in and continue the work of building renovation and preservation and support of the Citadel Dance and Music Center.
12 years later it is now time for us to pass the baton off. I retired from LMC in February of 2023. Sarah and I have our eyes on more travel, more family time and more creative adventures. We were looking to find the right party to buy it and landed on the very best possible solution we could think of: The Citadel Dance and Music Center.
The deal is inked, and the Citadel board has launched a capital campaign that is now in its early stages, but already gaining good traction! It’s a sound deal that will provide the Citadel with a permanent home, additional rental revenue streams and future opportunities to expand and improve facilities – all at a below market price!
Please give every consideration to supporting this very worthy not-for-profit arts organization. The Citadel Dance and Music Center is a truly special organization and continues to be an anchor in the Benton Harbor Arts District providing dance and music lessons and programming to hundreds of local children (and adults!) every year – in addition to serving as a community event center for public and private events in the Oak Room.
Also, please know that as part of our effort to ensure a smooth transition, Sarah and I have agreed to stay on to manage the building and the 60+ annual events that happen in the Oak Room for up to two years.
In addition, TORP improv performances will also continue in the Oak Room for at least the next two years!
It was an emotional decision to buy the building and it was with mixed emotions that we decided to sell the building. We are confident in the direction all of this is heading and thrilled at the prospects of long-term support and sustainability for the Citadel Dance and Music Center.
Please join us in our efforts to support! https://www.citadeldmc.org/capital-campaign
The Citadel Dance & Music Center is a 501(C)(3) organization which strives to inspire a sense of excitement and curiosity and to instill the disciplines of Dance & Music as art forms and a way of life. Contact Executive Director Susan Dietrich-Reed, dietrichreed@CitadelDMC.org
