Flint’s historic Masonic Temple reopens its doors Thursday after years closed, with a 300-to-400-seat event hall and a restaurant space ready for a tenant

FLINT, Mich. — The historic Masonic Temple in downtown Flint opens its doors to a crowd again this week. Communities First Inc., the nonprofit developer that bought the seven-story building at the end of 2018, will hold its inaugural Crystal Ball Gala there Thursday, Oct. 29, the first big public event since the first phase of a long renovation, MLive reported.

The gala, which marks the group’s 15th anniversary, runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at 755 Saginaw St., with doors at 6 p.m. Its ticket page says the venue has reached capacity, so the event is effectively sold out.

What has been rebuilt. The first phase covers the basement and the first two floors of the building at the corner of Saginaw and Fourth streets. That work includes a new lobby, new restrooms, a rebuilt auditorium meant to work as an arts and culture venue seating 300 to 400 people for concerts, art shows and festivals, and a built-out restaurant space. In January, MLive put the first-phase budget at more than $4 million; Communities First CEO Glenn Wilson later wrote on LinkedIn that the phase cost “just north” of $5 million.

Who paid for it. The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation granted $1.5 million toward the first phase. Communities First has also lined up federal money and support from Consumers Energy, according to MLive; neither report gave the size of the federal share. The building will be available for private rentals as well as the group’s own events.

What is still to come. The upper floors of the seven-story building are not part of this phase, and fundraising to finish the restoration continues, Wilson told MLive in January. The restaurant space, once home to the Temple Dining Room, needed an operator: Wilson asked on LinkedIn for restaurants looking to expand downtown to get in touch. The Mitten Daily found no announcement of a tenant as of Wednesday.

A 1911 landmark. The temple opened May 16, 1911, after more than two years of construction, at a cost of $175,000, according to Flint Journal files cited by MLive. Detroit architect H.B. Clement designed it. Over the decades it housed Masonic lodges, the Temple Dining Room from 1947, dance troupes, craft shows, an American Red Cross production center and a dinner theater. It was listed on the State Register of Historic Sites in May 1981. The Flint Masonic Temple Association put the building up for sale in 2017 for $500,000.

For downtown Flint, a working 300-to-400-seat hall on Saginaw Street adds another place for concerts and community events, and the largest disclosed source of money for it is a private foundation grant, not city tax dollars.

Sources:
MLive, “Historic Masonic Temple in downtown Flint set to reopen its doors,” Oct. 27, 2026 (gala, 2018 purchase, phases, funding, 300-400 seats, 1911 history, State Register), https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/10/historic-masonic-temple-in-downtown-flint-set-to-reopen-its-doors.html
MLive, “Flint Masonic Temple kitchen could reopen this year after $1.5M Mott grant,” Jan. 17, 2026 (first-phase budget of more than $4 million, $500,000 asking price in 2017, Wilson quotes), https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2026/01/flint-masonic-temple-kitchen-could-reopen-this-year-after-15m-mott-grant.html
Glenn Wilson, Communities First Inc., LinkedIn post, January 2026 (first phase “just north” of $5 million, lobby, auditorium, restrooms, restaurant seeking tenant), https://www.linkedin.com/posts/glenn-a-wilson_flint-masonic-temple-kitchen-could-reopen-activity-7420442212364214272-cxGQ
Communities First Inc., Crystal Ball tickets page (Oct. 29, 6:30-9:30 p.m., 755 Saginaw St., venue at capacity), https://cbo.io/app/public/bidapp/cfigala2026/tickets/tix
Photo: kennethaw88, “Masonic Temple Flint.jpg,” Oct. 17, 2015, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masonic_Temple_Flint.jpg

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Tags: Flint · Masonic Temple · Downtown Flint · Historic Preservation · Communities First · Mott Foundation