By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
jnewell@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Downtown Development Authority is working diligently to redevelop the site of the old Lake Orion Lumberyard into a new public space that, once completed, will offer a public event space, parking and commercial opportunities.
The development has been renamed The Lumber Yard at Paint Creek and DDA Executive Director Matt Gibb said the goal is build a gateway to the downtown that will preserve several of the features of the old lumber yard, incorporate Lake Orion’s history and offer new features to make the site a public destination.

Gibb recently sat down with The Lake Orion Review to discuss what is currently happening at the site and what the DDA’s long-term vision is for the property once completed.
Parking is often a problem in Lake Orion, especially during events, so the goal in the next 30 days is to add better fencing for security purposes and have a designated parking area on the west side of the property along Broadway Street. This will open up more parking spaces while construction crews continue to work at the site, Gibb said. Once completed, The Lumber Yard site will have access points from Broadway and Atwater streets.
The demolition of many structures is done and the concrete that needs to be removed has been. Approximately 90 dumpsters of debris were removed from the site.
“Ninety dumpsters would be a full 15% of what they took out of the Palace of Auburn Hills site,” Gibb said. “So, we had to go through all of that to get this site cleaned up.”
The DDA has saved some signs and will repurpose and use those and public art, along with new landscaping, to “brand” the site, making it a visually appealing gateway into downtown Lake Orion as people head north on M-24, Gibb said.
Structures to be repurposed
While many of the structures at the lumber yard have already been demolished, some are being preserved and will be refurbished to be used in the redeveloped site. The DDA is trying to preserve and reuse as much of the old lumber as possible – not only as a cost-saving measure, but to preserve some of Lake Orion’s history and give the buildings a historic look, Gibb said.
Construction will soon start on the large barn and canopy, including shoring up the sides and replacing the roof. When it is completed, Gibb said the barn can be used for an event space.
“The Lumber Rack” is a long bay-like structure of wood stalls that will be repurposed into open-air vendor spaces that could potentially be used for farmers market bays.
One of the old storage buildings on the east side of the property near the Paint Creek Trail will be repurposed into a trailhead building with a roof and three sides.
The main office of the old lumber yard business is being repurposed into office/commercial space that can be rented out, bringing in revenue for the DDA.
The goal is to have the barn, outdoor vendor space and trail head building rebuilt and have roofs on them by June, Gibb said.
“We’re looking to do some type of soft launch by fall, late fall, with the idea that the following spring (2026) our public space area – around Flower Fair time – would be built out enough that the public aspects of this would be going,” Gibb said.
Long-term vision for The Lumber Yard
The DDA first began looking at purchasing the lumber yard site for additional parking, but that idea quickly morphed into creating a gateway to the community that would feature additional parking and become a community gathering place.
The Lumber Yard will have around 120-140 parking spaces along the west and south sides of the property, which could be completed by fall, Gibb said.
The large barn will serve as an event space with a stage that would be ideal for concerts, weddings and other events, Gibb said. To the north of the barn there will be a large outdoor area gathering space.
On the north side of the property there’s also space for two small buildings that could be an opportunity for someone to bring in a micro-hotel in one and a retail/makerspace building in the other.
“Which if this is going to be a concert, a wedding, a market destination venue that would be kind of a cool use. It’s not cast in stone,” Gibb said. “And there’s an idea that would do a makerspace that would also be retail that would be homeschoolers and seniors and anybody else would have the ability to do craftwork and welding and design work here, kind of ‘Lumber Yard-esque.’ But the idea would be that the front of it would be retail so that we would create revenue.”
Gibb said the DDA’s goal is to encourage moving the beer tents during festivals from the Children’s Park parking lot to The Lumber Yard Barn, which would open more parking downtown and move the noise factor from the downtown to The Lumber Yard.
DDA Assistant Director Janet Bloom said that many of the large concerts, such as concerts in the Children’s Park gazebo, could also be moved to the barn.
There is the potential for adding two small barn-like buildings to the south of the lumber yard office building along Broadway Street that could be built as commercial buildings. These and other commercial buildings would be built once the DDA has a partnership with businesses that want to operate on the site – which would be revenue for the DDA and village.
In concept, Gibb said he has an idea for three galvanized grain bins on the east side of the property near the Paint Creek Trail. The bins would be repurposed into concession stands for the trailhead and activities at the site, and general shelters for people.
The DDA does not have a final site plan yet, but all of these ideas are getting drawn in concept by the PEA Group, Gibb said.
Paying for The Lumber Yard
At its April 23, 2023 meeting, the Lake Orion Village Council authorized issuing up to $5 million in bonds for The Lumber Yard redevelopment project, with the bond and interest to be paid by the DDA through its TIF (Tax Increment Financing) capture.
The DDA purchased the property for $2.5 million from property owners. After demolition and site cleanup, the DDA has about $2.1 million out of the $5 million bond left.
“We were able to get a $595,000 grant from the Main Street Program,” Gibb said. “Getting $595,000 to say, ‘Can you save this and create a public space that creates this dynamic historic gateway into your downtown? If you can, then we’re going to give you $595,000.’ And we said ‘we not only can, we will.’