Plans to improve the concessions area at Silver Beach County Park in St. Joseph are moving full steam ahead now that the Berrien County Board of Commissioners has approved an updated lease for concessioner Lemons LLC.

Lemons is owned by Anne Reitz, also the owner of Caffe Tosi. She tells us the current concessions facility simply isn’t meeting the need anymore.

“The inside of the stand is a little bit small, and we’ve been operating out of there — I guess it was built as a temporary structure 30 years ago — so we’ve been operating out of there, I have since 2012,” Reitz said.

The plan is to add a patio, tables and chairs outside — including an oversized chair in the shape of Michigan — and some concrete pads that will hold shipping containers to be used for retail space. There could be a food truck stationed there. Reitz says there will also be an open space on the concessions building so passersby can see that there are things for sale. Right now, the stand only opens toward the lake.

“There’s a lot of people that are down there that aren’t on the sand. So we’re kind of catering now to the people that are sunbathing and swimming. Now we want to kind of extend it past to people that are walking on the pier, people that are just sitting on the benches.”

Reitz says most of the improvements are on track to be done this year, although the shipping containers from Canada may be delayed due to import taxes and other factors. She’s investing about $350,000 to $400,000 in the improvements and says the newly updated concessions area will look great next to the new playground now going in.

The Berrien County Board of Commissioners on Thursday voted to extend Lemons LLC’s lease by ten years, through September 30, 2036. They also voted to reduce the lease fee a bit to help Reitz recoup some of the renovation costs.

Berrien County Parks Director Jill Adams tells us the county has a “top notch working relationship” with the concessioner, and it’s excited about what’s coming.