Now bank-controlled, Hild’s former brewery, cafe and donut shop properties put up for lease

After nearly five years in purgatory, a trio of Hull Street commercial properties have been primed for a comeback.  

The buildings tied to embattled local businessman Michael Hild that formerly housed Dogtown Brewing Co., the Butterbean Market & Cafe and Hot Diggity Donuts were recently listed for lease. 

The three buildings are all on the 1200 block of Hull Street in Manchester and were bought and redeveloped by Hild and his wife, Laura, in the late 2010s. 

The properties have sat dormant since 2020 following both the pandemic and legal fallout from the collapse of Michael Hild’s reverse mortgage firm Live Well Financial. Until last week, a temporary closure sign dated from March 2020 had been posted to Dogtown’s front door. 

Movement around the commercial buildings began over the summer when Hild’s lender, Virginia Credit Union, gained control of the properties due to loan defaults. VACU then received court approval to appoint Kutak Rock attorney Peter Barrett as receiver to manage the properties. Barrett declined to comment for this story.

Hild’s Church Hill Ventures still owns the properties, but VACU is effectively in control of them for now.

The three spaces are now being marketed for lease by One South Commercial’s Chris Corrada and Ann Schweitzer Riley, who began showings at the spaces last week. 

Corrada said the spaces are all move-in ready and include equipment ranging from brewing rigs to furniture to silverware and dishware.

The largest of the three is the former Dogtown Brewing space at 1209 Hull St., which totals around 4,800 square feet and includes a rooftop deck. The building was once a Thalhimers department store before its 2019 conversion into a brewery with over 20 taps, a full kitchen and mezzanine area with shuffleboard tables. 

The Butterbean’s 2,300-square-foot space at 1200-1206 Hull St. is split between cafe and market areas. The Hilds had opened it with one side serving sandwiches, salads and other hot foods, while the other stocked groceries and pantry items. The space also includes a patio at the corner of Hull and East 12th streets. 

Hot Diggity Donuts was the first of the Hilds’s three concepts to open, debuting its sourdough donuts in 2018. The shop’s 1,100-square-foot space is at 1213 Hull St.

The summer’s court order also gave VACU control of a single-family home at 2010 Maury St. and  a vacant lot at 1124 Bainbridge St. Those properties are not part of the One South list.

Michael Hild, meanwhile, continues to fight legal battles on multiple fronts related to criminal, civil and bankruptcy court cases filed against him as a result of Live Well’s collapse. He was found guilty of multiple counts of fraud in a federal criminal case in 2021 but remains free on bond while appealing the conviction and 44-month prison sentence.

(Slideshow photos courtesy Mindie Ballard)