The iconic downtown J&S Hamburg business and Front Street property have hit the market for $2.195 million. Listing agent Doug Meteyer tells The Ticker the current owners – who have owned and managed the property for the past eighteen years – are “at the point where operating the business is very time consuming,” and that the sale is “a part of their retirement plan.” The corner lot at 302 W. Front is designated C-4 zoning – allowing for a variety of both residential and commercial uses up to 60 feet, or 100 feet with a special use vote.

While Meteyer says that the property’s prime location would be an ideal site for “luxury condos or a boutique hotel,” he stresses that the owners would “love to see the legacy of the restaurant continue.” Meteyer notes that while it may be difficult to develop around the current building, constructing a new space wherein the J&S brand could occupy the bottom floor could be an ideal anchor for a mixed-use development. According to Meteyer, the listing has already garnered interest from buyers despite being listed for just over a week.

J&S Hamburg Downtown first opened its doors on West Front Street in 1938. For decades, it was a popular late-night establishment and one of the only 24-hour eateries downtown. Using catchy taglines like “Dark Side of the Spoon,” and slogans like “Curing Hangovers since 1938,” J&S was once a popular haven for post-bar crowds with a hankering for a breakfast platter, chocolate shake, or grilled cheese sandwich at 3am. Now the diner closes daily at 2pm.

The sale of the West Front Street property and J&S Downtown will not affect the J&S South Airport establishment. Although the two diners were once affiliated, J&S South owners Tiffany and Jason McQueer purchased the South Airport Road location in 2014 from Susan Willard after Jason worked for Willard at what was then called Sue’s J&S for fifteen years. While Tiffany and Jason McQueer have continued many of the traditions of the J&S brand, the two have created a new legacy with Project Feed the Kids – a mission born out of the COVID-19 pandemic aimed at ending childhood hunger in the Grand Traverse region.