Julie’s Park Café and Motel Expansion Adds Second Floor, Eight Rooms to 60-Year-Old Building

Julie’s Park Café and Motel has grown in so many respects this summer, as owners Sande and Shane Solomon enter their seventh season. Let us count the ways.

It began in May 2015 when they started the process of obtaining the seven variances needed to rebuild the motel. Work started in November. Although the original plan was to add a second story to the original motel, the nearly 60-year-old building proved to have many challenges.

“In the end,” Shane said, “the money was better spent on a totally new building. It was a long process, with a lot of waiting, but it all turned out well. The county and township have both been very supportive of the project.”

From the beginning, the Solomons had two goals in mind – to keep the design true to Door County charm and aesthetic, and to be as green as possible. The new two-story motel has 21 rooms, eight more than before. It is quite heavily insulated and has radiant heating throughout.

Repurposing was a priority. When two trees had to be taken down to make room for the new construction, the lumber was planed and used to build nightstands and end tables for the motel rooms.

“One of the most fascinating things,” Shane says, “is that we came across an old Jim Beam barrel house that was being deconstructed. Our furniture maker said if he could get ahold of the beams, he could use them for dressers and refrigerator enclosures. Each of those pieces will have a little plaque describing its provenance.”

The building has been designed for maximum efficiency, with a footprint that’s as small as possible. There’s in-floor heating throughout, and the lawn sprinkler system recycles water pulled from the sump pump and held in a 600-gallon reservoir.

Mike Haberkorn of Manitowoc was the general contractor. Local craftsmen were used whenever possible.

The motel opened on May 6 and will be in operation year round.

The café opened on April 29 and will have an almost year-round schedule, with weekends only during the winter and a brief closure possible in late March and/or early April. The hours will remain the same: 6:29 am to 9:01 pm. Why the unusual times?

“It’s a conversation piece,” Shane says. “People talk about it and remember it.”

Most of the staff in the café is about the same this summer. Four positions have been added to the motel, bringing the employee total to 40.

“Some people who have been with us for a while have been moved to more strategic management positions, leaving Sande and me free to be ‘firefighters’,” Shane said. “We’ve purchased two houses near the business to provide employee housing, which is often a problem in the community. We think that being open longer during the year will help the local economy and also help us keep employees.”

The Solomons came to Door County from Milwaukee, where Sande taught Spanish at Pius XI High School, and Shane was assistant director of resident life at Concordia University. Although both had an academic background, owning a restaurant was always Shane’s goal from the time he’d worked in very nice ones in Florida as a high school and college student. Their daughter, Gabriella, will be a kindergartner at Gibraltar Elementary School this fall, and their son, Malachi, is two. You’re likely to spot them in the giant Adirondack chair out front that is Julie’s trademark.