MANISTIQUE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Schoolcraft Tourism & Commerce (STC) and InvestUP are working together to inspire business development in Manistique.
Thanks to a grant from the Office of Rural Prosperity, InvestUP began hosting meetups with emerging developers earlier this year.
“It was kind of an idea that was fostered in Marquette County,” explained Anne Giroux, Director of Development and Investment Services at InvestUP. “They’ve been doing these kinds of events for a couple of years. I saw a lot of really awesome networking, relationship building happening, and developers just really growing through those events.”
Manistique was one of six communities chosen for the initiative. In October, Schoolcraft Tourism & Commerce hosted a tour of vacant properties in the area. The group included realtors, contractors, an architect, current business owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
“The board had been talking about doing something like that for several years,” said STC Executive Director Victoria George. “We felt like now was a good time to start doing that, because we are seeing that people are purchasing the buildings that were unoccupied or might have been used prior for businesses that generally aren’t found in a downtown area and transforming them into retail space, restaurants, things like that.”
Organizers identified potential uses for each site, including everything from shops to housing.
“One of them had had a restaurant in it previously, so it is all set up if a restaurant wanted to go in, and then it has housing up above,” George said. “There was one people thought might be a good childcare center facility, and then you also have your housing there, or even just make it into rental properties. Another property had large office space and several large, outdoor pole barns. There are a lot of ideas there.”
During the tour, InvestUP highlighted incentives available to developers.
“The Michigan State Housing Development Authority, they have a couple of grant programs that developers can access funds to support the creation of new housing units,” said Giroux. “Also brownfield tools and housing tax increment financing. Of course, we talked about the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the incentives that they provide to downtowns in particular. EGLE is another State department that has brownfield tools and resources available.”
In the last few years, several developers have found success opening businesses and creating housing inside historic Manistique buildings.
“InvestUP established Build U.P., which is a housing incentive fund, a few years ago now,” Giroux said. “If you look at population per capita, Manistique has been using that fund more than any other community. With how hard it is in rural communities to really put these complicated projects together, you need your local folks there to be able to help these emerging developers through that process. I think that it really gets back to the local capacity and investing in your economic development organization.”
That is the kind of momentum Schoolcraft Tourism & Commerce and InvestUP hope to maintain by shining a spotlight on vacant properties.
“It’s exciting to see in our downtown area so much more retail, different types of restaurants, and places to go,” said George. “Once your downtown thrives, it just grows from there out into the rest of the county. We are a very tourist-type community, and the appearance to the tourists coming through now is that it’s a thriving community versus one with a lot of empty buildings.”
To learn more about available development opportunities in the Manistique area, contact one of the real estate agencies listed at discoverschoolcraft.com.
