The going rate for one of Nick Easton's dreams: $6.875 million. That's the asking price for 210 First Street, the building Easton restored into a collection of downtown Ann Arbor's most popular watering holes, such as Cavern Club, Millennium Club, Gotham City and Circus bars.
After nearly 10 years of running night spots there and almost 15 years working on the building, Easton is ready to take on some new challenges and put the structure next door to the Blind Pig on the market. Easton is in no hurry to sell (he still enjoys running the bars), but has his eyes on homes in Northern Michigan and Key West where he hopes to end up splitting his time.
"Even though it’s a good time, I have to pick a good time to retire," Easton says.
Considering the amount of work that went into restoring the four-story, circa 1853 building, it's understandable the man about to turn 60 is ready to move on. A lot of people dream of restoring a piece of their local history, whether it's a building or a car or heirloom.
Easton lived the super-size version of that dream, restoring all 26,000 square feet of the building where Lohr's Ann Arbor Implement Company spent decades selling tractors and chainsaws. His advice for anyone thinking about tackling something similar? Besides having lots of patience, he answers:
"First remember it's going to cost twice as much and take twice as long as you think. There is no end to the hidden costs. I needed everything. This place was basically a shell but it had a good address."
The project took Easton in a directions he never thought he'd go, too. He had already restored an old bank in downtown Clinton, which he turned it into his antique store on the first floor and home on the second, before coming to Ann Arbor.
His plan then was to turn 210 First into an antique emporium. Bought for $280,000 in 1994, Easton rented out the extra space to other antique dealers and worked on improving the building. That led to the 
creation of the Cavern Club, the building's signature business, in 1998.
Easton thought the wine-cellar like basement would make a good banquet hall. That led to the realization that it would also make a good nightspot and before he knew it, the developer was a club owner --a move he admits was "totally not what I was originally planning."
But it turned out to be the right move. Cavern Club and the bars that followed proved to be great successes. "It was an instant hit," Easton explains. "We had 350 people upstairs and 350 in the Cavern Club. I wasn't ready for that many."
That was the fun part. The part people always think about when they start a project like this. What they don't think about is how much hard labor and grunt work they'll have to do. With 210 First, the work seemed endless since the vintage building had barely been updated. Easton claims there were "bats flying through broken windows."
Along with some friends, Easton spent hours working a jackhammer busting up concrete to make an ADA-complaint ramp and bringing down brick walls to create the Cavern Club. They were covered in 60 years worth of black dust (the building burned coal for heat for decades).
And more surprising were the 28 doors he had to buy.
"And then we ended up needing to order even more doors," Easton says. "And they had to be fireproof doors. I have a small fortune in doors installed here."
Easton ran out of money (he invested more than $1 million in the restoration) once or twice. He had to ask family members for help. Once open, he sank just
about every penny he made from the bars back into the building. Revenues from Cavern Club helped open Millennium Club (a dance club) and Gotham City (a New York City-themed club) on the main floor in 2000 and Circus (a circus-theme pool hall) on the second floor in 2003.
The income from those bars helped him create two apartments, including a 3,000-square-foot, bi-level penthouse suite that overlooks the city. That mega loft is Easton's home, which to him means a work commute of 10 seconds avia elevator, a particularly gratifying feeling given his personal and financial investment in the place.
"I love taking something that has a lot of character and good bones and bringing it up to date by putting a fresh face on it," Easton says. "I get compliments all of the time. People say thanks for saving this piece of Ann Arbor."
Source: Nick Easton, owner of 210 First Street
Writer: Jon Zemke
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