Fingers crossed (or beans ground, or espresso brewed), the Uptown Coffeehouse building at the corner of Grand River and Michigan avenues will remain Howell’s favorite place for caffeine under new ownership in a tentative deal that could be a match made in heaven.
If the deal proceeds as hoped, Uptown Coffeehouse — which has become a mainstay of downtown Howell over the past two-plus decades — will become Good Sense Coffee in the next few weeks, under the ownership of Ian Boyle, proprietor of the mobile coffee trailers that serve throughout the area, including Sundays at the Howell’s Farmers’ Market.
“Howell has been one of our best farmers’ market sites,” Boyle said. “There’s so much positivity for our coffee when we’re there. We are excited to see this opportunity.”
Boyle and Brennan anticipate closing the deal at the end of June, and Brennan said she’s looking forward to drinking coffee at Uptown “as a customer.”
“This place has been my second home,” she said. “My kids grew up here.”
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Brennan said that while she knew it wouldn’t take too long to find a new owner for the historic building, she had no idea it would happen so fast. “It’s like Stage 5 rapids,” she said. “I am trying to go with the flow.” (For those, like me, who have never been whitewater rafting, Stage 5 rapids are the upper limit of what is possible in a commercial raft.)
Brennan received multiple offers in a short amount of time, and she’s pleased the building will remain a coffee shop.
“I am so excited,” Brennan said. “When I made the decision, I felt a lot of relief, so I knew it was the right thing. But then sadness and grief set in.”
That said, Brennan said she hasn’t once regretted her decision. “I have no doubt it’s the right thing to do,” and she said Boyle will “take it to the next level.”
Good Sense Coffee began in 2013, roasting its own beans. Five years later, Good Sense opened a coffee shop between Brighton and Howell, but Boyle said the location “was not the best,” and closed it just before Covid.
Good Sense transitioned to serving coffee from mobile trailers, a move Boyle said was “pretty smart for us.”
“We liked doing them,” he said. “It made sense to close that first location.”
Boyle, a Brighton resident originally from Pinckney, said he’s excited about the prospect of buying the Uptown building.
“I’ve always admired and loved that location,” he said. “It’s a great staple for the community.”
The purchase agreement is just for the Uptown building, though it sounds like talks for the coffee shop could happen.
When will Good Sense Coffee open?
“It kind of depends on if there’s work that needs to be done to the interior,” Boyle said. “If we do any renovation, or if we just open as quickly as possible, I anticipate that there will be a short closing. I am hoping we can make it quick.”
Boyle said he hasn’t met or talked with any Uptown staffers yet, but “if people want to stay and if they’re good and we work well together,” he’s open to taking them on.
