Green Dot Stables returns to former Lansing location

Co-owners Jacques and Christine Driscoll are hoping the fourth time will be the charm for Green Dot Stables’ Lansing location.

The space at 410 S. Clippert St., which since late 2022 had been operating as restaurant and entertainment venue the Junction, is scheduled to reopen as Green Dot Stables Feb. 29.

The 12,000-square-foot venue had seen its share of occupants, including the Brass Monkey, Wayside bar, Sparty’s Night Club and the Whiskey Barrel Saloon, before the Driscolls bought it in late 2016.

About six months after they opened for business in 2017, the building flooded.

“We were about 4 feet under water for like a week,” Jacques Driscoll said. “The damage was more than we even put into the original build. We reopened six months later, but I think a lot of people thought we were closed permanently. It was hard to get that momentum back.”

They reopened the restaurant twice. But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and thwarted those efforts, leading to Green Dot’s most recent shuttering in mid-2022. The Driscolls retained ownership of the building but turned over operations to the owners of the Junction.

But the couple, who got into the business when they bought the original Green Dot Stables in Detroit in 2011, kept their minds open to the possibility of another return, which started taking shape late last year.

“I was here getting lunch with our old manager. We were talking, and I was kind of joking with him and asked if he wanted to get back into the restaurant business. He was interested,” Driscoll said.

Other former staff members are also set to make a return, he said. The restaurant will continue the live performances from the Junction era, and there will also be a newly furnished TV lounge for sports fans.

“We knew that if we took the food component from what we were doing and added some live entertainment, we could really make this something special,” Driscoll said. “We’re going to have line dancing, karaoke, college nights and DJs. It’s something we’ve never had before, so we’re super excited about that.”

Dinner service will run through 9 p.m. each night. After that, the stage will come alive. The kitchen will continue to serve pub food through 1 a.m. during events.

“We want to have some diverse stuff, whether it’s bluegrass and folk to EDM and hip-hop — whatever’s fun. We want everyone to feel welcome and have a good time. That’s the ultimate goal,” Driscoll said.

The return to Lansing is particularly meaningful to the couple, who are both Michigan State University alumni.

“My wife and I both lived in Armstrong Hall at the same time, but we actually met afterward when we were both living all the way out in San Diego,” Driscoll said. “We moved back to Michigan in 2010 and bought (the original) Green Dot, which was an old cop hangout, an after-hours club that at some point had shut down.”

A handful of years later, things were going well enough that they were looking to expand. They found the Lansing property soon after.

“It was very similar to what the original Green Dot had going for it in Detroit. It had no windows, it’s an old brick building. We fell in love with it,” Driscroll said.

It wasn’t the first time Driscoll had been inside the building. He used to hang out at Sparty’s with friends during his undergrad years. Now, he’s become a major part of the ever-evolving space’s history and future.

“At first, I was a little hesitant to bring it back. But as we’re getting closer to it, I’m getting really pumped and I’m excited for what’s going to be,” he said.