From Death to Life: Getting the Deal Done at 1175 Burton SE

I was in the hunt for a bigger space. Nightjar had been doubling in size, and our current shop was at capacity. I spent weeks looking at different available buildings across Grand Rapids—scrolling through listings, driving past properties, imagining what could work for us.

Then I came across the Perfected Grave Vault building at 1175 Burton SE.

Built in the 1950s, this industrial structure had spent decades manufacturing concrete burial vaults, caskets, and urns. It was part of the mortuary business—a place dedicated to the end of life. When I first walked through, I couldn't help but notice the irony: here we were, a sauna and cold plunge company focused on wellness, vitality, and keeping people kicking, about to take over a space that had spent generations taking care of the dead.

There was something poetic about it. Something almost defiant. Where death once dwelled, we would build tools for living well.

But recognizing the irony was the easy part. Actually getting the deal done? That was something else entirely.

The Reality of Dealmaking

Making a deal happen is tough. It's not easy. There are so many pieces to the puzzle—financing, approvals, surveys, inspections, negotiations that sometimes stretch on for months. Every element has to align. Both parties have to agree. And the moment one piece falls out of place, the whole thing can collapse.

People see the announcement—the new building, the expansion plans, the exciting future. What they don't see are the months of work that precede it, the complexity of assembling all those pieces into something that actually works.

The Zoning Challenge

One of our biggest obstacles emerged early: the property had been re-zoned from industrial to mixed-use commercial. For a manufacturing company like Nightjar, this wasn't just a bureaucratic detail—it raised immediate questions about whether we could even use the space the way we needed to.

We build saunas and cold plunges. We need space to manufacture, to craft with our hands, to saw and sand and assemble. Could we continue doing that in a mixed-use commercial zone?

I immediately reached out to the City of Grand Rapids to clarify the situation. The answer came down to something called an "existing use"—designated as "E" in the zoning code. Because grave vaults were being manufactured, and because we were continuing that same industrial use, the property qualified as an existing use and manufacturing could continue.

But it wasn't automatic. The City had to do their research and due diligence to confirm this. I had to work with them to clarify our situation and make sure everything was properly documented. Once they completed their review and confirmed the existing use status, we had the green light.

Crisis averted. Deal back on track.

The Tenant Situation

But that wasn't our only complication. The building came with existing tenants paying below-market rents—a common scenario in commercial real estate, but one that creates real friction when you're trying to take occupancy.

We had to negotiate exit timelines that worked for everyone involved. These are people with businesses and livelihoods, not just numbers on a spreadsheet. But we also have a rapidly growing company that desperately needs space to expand. Finding that middle ground required patience, clear communication, and a genuine commitment to working toward mutually beneficial solutions.

As I write this, we're still waiting for one tenant to vacate the back 5,000 square feet. Once they're out, we'll finally be able to see the full canvas we're working with and start planning how to transform this space into Nightjar's next chapter.

Creative Financing Makes It Possible

Perhaps the most critical piece of the puzzle was financing. Nightjar has been growing—fast. We've doubled in size, built up our team, and have a backlog of orders. But that kind of growth means our capital is deployed everywhere: inventory, equipment, people, materials.

Traditional financing would have been challenging in our current growth phase. Banks want to see certain things. They want stability. They want established patterns. We're in that exciting but precarious phase where we're proving what we can become, not just reporting what we've been.

The land contract structure is what made this deal possible. Here I have to give a huge shout out to Doug, who crafted the contract and was able to get the seller, Tim, on board with a structure that worked for everyone. Doug's expertise in navigating the complexities and finding creative solutions was invaluable.

But you want to know what really sealed the deal? According to Tim, the icing on the cake—the thing that made him certain this was the right move—was the sauna included in the deal.

That's right. A sauna company closed the deal with a sauna. There's something perfectly fitting about that.

Looking Forward

Now that the deal is done, we're standing at the threshold of something significant. This isn't just about more square footage—though we certainly need that. It's about creating a space where we can continue building world-class saunas and cold plunges while maintaining the craftsmanship and attention to detail that define everything we do at Nightjar.

It's about having room to grow our team, refine our processes, implement the manufacturing principles we believe in, and serve more people who want to bring authentic wellness experiences into their lives.

It's about building not just products, but a lasting company rooted in quality, community, and aesthetically beautiful design.

From Endings to Beginnings

There's something I keep coming back to: the building's history. For decades, this space was dedicated to endings. To closure. To the care of those who had passed on.

Now it will be dedicated to vitality. To wellness. To the practice of heat and cold that has sustained human health for thousands of years.

Where families once said goodbye, they'll now gather together. Where the business of death once operated, we'll build tools for living well. Where one chapter ended, another begins.

The Bigger Picture

Getting this deal done taught me something important: significant moves in business are never clean and simple. They're messy, complicated, and require persistence when things get hard. They require good partnerships—like the City of Grand Rapids stepping up to help us find solutions, and Doug's skill in crafting a contract that brought everyone together. They require creativity when conventional paths don't work—and sometimes, they require knowing when to sweeten the deal with what you do best.

Most importantly, they require keeping your eyes fixed on why you're doing this in the first place.

For us, that "why" is crystal clear: we believe in what we build. We believe in the wellness, the ritual, the gathering that happens when people step into a sauna or plunge into cold water. We believe in craftsmanship that honors tradition while embracing the future. We believe in creating beautiful things that genuinely improve people's lives.

1175 Burton SE isn't just a building. It's the foundation for the next phase of Nightjar's story—a story we're grateful to be writing with our community, our team, and everyone who believes in what we're creating together.

Here's to getting the deal done. Here's to turning a place of endings into a place of vitality.

And here's to everything that comes next.