Why would a seafood restaurant name itself after a piece of a gift shop's storefront?

At 123 Washington Ave., the name points to a single architectural feature. The former Floto's Gifts storefront has a mid-century modern facade with a feature long nicknamed "the fin." The building's developers say they intend to preserve it, and the seafood restaurant planned for the ground floor is called The Fin. Right now much of the building's exterior structure is exposed, so it can look like little of the old building will survive. Most of the work is aimed at making sure the one feature people care about does survive.

Seventy-eight years of a Tiffany blue storefront

Floto's Gifts closed on Aug. 31, 2024, after 78 years at 123 Washington. As MLive reported when the shop closed, the business went through three generations. It started with Cornelia and Percy Floto, passed to their daughter Mary Joyce (Floto) Ellingboe, and ended with her son, Paul Ellingboe.

It opened as an appliance store, in the Tiffany blue design the shop was still known for at the end. After a fire about a decade later, it reopened with the stock most people remember: Grand Haven souvenirs, lighthouses, Coast Guard items, sweatshirts and jewelry. The motto never changed: "Where shopping is an adventure since 1946."

The fin dates from a 1950s renovation. Developer Marci DeVries told City Council that the team plans to restore the building to its mid-century look, using historic photos of that renovation held by the public library.

How a facade ended up in a tax plan

On April 27, 2026, the Grand Haven City Council voted 3-2 to adopt a brownfield plan for 123 Washington. Over 19 years the plan's tax increment financing would give the developer roughly $589,000, according to MLive's coverage of the vote.

The fin came up during that hearing. DeVries noted that Facebook discussions about preserving the facade had drawn a lot of community interest, and she tied the incentive directly to keeping it. MLive quoted her:

"The communities rallied around the preservation of the fin. We would like to preserve the fin. That's our intent as well."

She also said the TIF funds would let the developers "include the fin in our restoration plan as a gift to the community."

The approved package was smaller than the first request. The developer originally asked for a 25-year incentive plus inclusion under the Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act. Council tabled that request and asked for changes, and the plan that passed ran 19 years without the OPRA piece.

Council members Sarah Kallio and Erin Lyon voted no. Kallio framed her concern as a policy question about who uses TIF tools. She said she would like future discussions to focus on citywide brownfield zones or neighborhood enterprise zones rather than individual agreements. Mayor Pro-tem Mike Dora agreed that brownfield guidelines would help. That debate is likely to come back the next time a downtown property asks for an incentive.

What changed between April and October

On Oct. 8, 2026, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office announced a $390,000 performance-based Michigan Community Revitalization Program grant for the project. The same announcement covered one other project, in Calumet, which received a separate $1.1 million grant. The project's estimated size also grew between the spring hearing and the fall announcement.

The October figure is roughly $300,000 above the April one. The building's condition helps explain why. City records described in MLive's April report show electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems dating to the 1950s or earlier, either not working or in need of modernization. The plan called for the initial work to be remediation, including lead and asbestos abatement. DeVries told council the project had two main goals, a high-quality historic renovation and guest safety, adding that "Floto's has a lot of contamination issues," as WOOD-TV reported.

The state release describes Todtz as someone who owned and ran a construction company in Baltimore for more than 25 years, renovating over 100 houses and buildings and building about 100 new houses and mixed-use buildings. Dana Kollewehr, Grand Haven's assistant city manager, called the project "a great example of the type of investment we want to encourage in Grand Haven."

What the sidewalk view looks like this season

Photos published with the Grand Haven Tribune's October report show much of the building's exterior structure exposed. The Tribune, citing The Fin's Facebook page, reported that construction began earlier this year with the aim of restoring as much of the historic building as possible. Because of structural concerns, the existing second floor is expected to be demolished and rebuilt in the spring.

So the stretch of Washington near 2nd Street may look rougher before it looks better. The second floor will become three two-bedroom apartments sharing a rooftop patio for tenants. Under the brownfield plan, those units are meant to be priced for households earning the area median income. The state release describes the site as being in a high-traffic pedestrian corridor two blocks from the waterfront.

The restaurant the fin is meant to frame

DeVries has been clear about who The Fin is for. She told council in April:

"We kind of want to demystify seafood for the Grand Haven area. Right now, if you want to have a crab dinner and a lobster dinner, you have to go to a casino or you have to make partner at your law firm and go to a really fancy restaurant."

As WOOD-TV reported, the plan is a casual, beach-themed spot where people can "come from the campground, come from your homes, come directly from the beach and have a quick plate of shrimp or crab legs." She also told MLive the menu could range from items "where you can go and eat for five bucks" to a family seafood boil.

The project is expected to create 15 full-time jobs at average wages of about $16 an hour. The Tribune reports The Fin is aiming for a 2027 opening, which fits the spring timeline for rebuilding the second floor.

This year downtown has lost established restaurants for reasons that had nothing to do with demand, as we covered in our look at the Paisley Pig and Lucky Bucket closures. That makes it notable when a project adds a ground-floor restaurant and three apartments to one storefront. It is also the kind of mixed-use reuse the city is weighing elsewhere on the waterfront, including the Chinook Pier plan.

When you'll be walking past it

123 Washington sits on the downtown route for the season's first holiday events, so the construction will be in plain view at events this month and again in January:

• Holiday Craft & Artisan Market, Saturday, Nov. 14, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Central Park Place, 421 Columbus Ave., a few blocks off Washington
• Holiday Light Night, Friday, Nov. 20, 5 to 8 p.m., on Washington Avenue, hosted by Grand Haven Main Street, per the City of Grand Haven community calendar
• Wine About Winter, Friday, Jan. 15, 2027, 5 to 8 p.m., in downtown Grand Haven on Washington Avenue

On Holiday Light Night, you'll find 123 Washington near 2nd Street, two blocks from the waterfront.

If you're curious how a downtown project like 123 Washington could affect a nearby block or your own home, the Sandi Gentry Team follows these redevelopments closely and is happy to talk them through. You can also start with a free home valuation or browse our Grand Haven neighborhood guide.