Tower of Pere Marquette depot, capped with protective tarps, is ready for clay tile roofing. lower canopy and ironwork and awaits a "completion of the tower" celebration planned by the Great Lakes Center Foundation for the end of this month. Study of Proposed Maritime Heritage Center's Economic Impact to be Unveiled
|
||||||||||
| Printer Friendly Story View |
After years of planning, wishing, hoping and trying, the city/county tourism economic development strategy is starting to come into clearer view.
Two upcoming events will showcase this development:
1. Celebration of the restoration of the tower on the Pere Marquette Union Station Depot, to be scheduled soon; and
2. A report Monday, Aug. 20 to the City Commission's Finance and Policy meeting on the economic potential of a proposed Maritime Heritage Center.
The report by Certec, Inc., of Lexington, Kentucky, is expected to project significant employment and economic impact from a proposed Maritime Heritage Center, the destination attraction brainchild of dynamic tourism chief Shirley Roberts, executive director of the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Certec recently reported to Lafayette, Indiana, estimating $279 million income and more than 4,183 jobs from tourism-related enterprises in 2004. With Purdue University as the hub, this destination attraction draws more than 3 million visitors a year to Tippecanoe County.
Regarding tourism, Certec states in the report: "It helps support dozens of local businesses that do not directly serve the county's tourists. It impacts banking, insurance, and real estate; transportation and public utilities; construction; agriculture, and manufacturing. This basic economic fact is still not fully understood by most citizens of the United States."
Dow Corning Corp. recently has contributed $20,000 to develop an economic impact analysis for the proposed regional attraction, reports City Manager Robert V. Belleman, adding: "I am pleased to report on the significant amount of progress in the last few months at the Uptown site. There are two groups focused on this site: The Private Sector group looking to form a public/private partnership and the boosters of the Maritime Heritage Center."
Two recommendations by the manager will come before the Commission on Aug. 20: 1) Purchase option for eight acres for the Maritime Heritage Center; and, 2) Organization documents for a public-private partnership for the balance of the Uptown site (nearly 35 acres). "Staff believes that, if adopted, these two actions will establish the framework for visible progress at the Uptown site," the manager reported.
The commission is meeting in executive session tonight with Attorney Kurt Brauer of Bodman LLP to receive his opinion on the proposed public-private partnership. "We have been able to reach agreement on all significant issues," said Mr. Belleman, amplifying: "It is important to note the proposed public-private partnership will not be the end user for the site -- it will primarily serve as an entity to convey purchase options to qualified developers who will in turn purchase and develop the site."
Input to the Bay City study will also come Dr. Donald Holecek of Michigan State University, former head of the MSU Travel Tourism and Recreation Resource Center.
For the past quarter century the city and county have struggled with various visions of economic development strategies to replace thousands of industrial jobs.
Under leadership of County Executive Tom Hickner, formerly a state representative, a Waterfront Task Force in the mid-1980s sparked revitalization of the waterfront that has brought big dividends to the city and its residents.
After the riverfront was cleaned up, a city marina added and parks spruced up, luxury condominiums began to rise and are still going up, businesses bloomed including antique stores, trendy boutiques and coffee shops, and motor coaches and tour buses and excursion boats began to buzz about.
Recently "cool cities" infrastructure like the Waterfall Park at the foot of Third Street, an antique car dealer, a riverfront hotel, the DoubleTree in the Hilton chain, and a massive new luxury condo building, the Boathouse, have enhanced the process. Even federal court officials and the FBI caught the fever, moving their offices to the riverfront in a handsome office plaza near Liberty Bridge.
What was once an industrial, wholesale, office and retail mixed waterfront became a tourist mecca. A sailing school and tall ships put wings to the renaissance.
The hissing of motorcoaches bringing tourists have nearly drowned out the memory of work whistles along the riverfront. Smokestacks that have crumbled in the past quarter century include the Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Prestolite, Inc., American Hoist and Derrick Co., Wolverine Knitting Mills, Bay Refining, the Dow Chemical Co. Bay City plants, and a large share of employment at General Motors Bay City PowerTrain, formerly Chevrolet-Bay City.
No community can retain its economic vitality with the loss of that many heavy industries and the good-paying jobs that were provided. That is, unless something replaces those jobs and tax base.
To be sure, there still are industrial bright spots like S.C. Johnson & Son, which took over some of Dow's operations, Carbone of America, a burgeoning high tech firm that provides materials for the semiconductor industry, and Dow Corning Corp., with headquarters in Williams Township. General Motors continues with reduced workforce as U.S. automakers fight for market share. Bay Cast and Northern Concrete Pipe are industry leaders in their respective fields.
One of Bay City's answers has been to look to tourism, an industry that thrives in nearby Frankenmuth that draws millions of tourists annually. The competition is stiff, what with places like Traverse City, Petoskey, Harbor Springs, the casino at Mt. Pleasant and dozens of waterfront cities like Alpena, Tawas and Grand Haven tossing out their lures to tourists.
But Bay City is in the game, and stepping up the ante, with developments along its two-sided riverfront several miles in length that is unmatched by any other Midwest site.
The crashing of the smokestacks at the old Industrial Brownhoist site of 48 acres at the foot of Columbus Avenue provides the biggest potential. Mrs. Roberts has staked out eight acres at the north end for her proposed project, the Maritime Heritage Center. The remaining acres presumably would be the province of a public-private partnership involving entrepreneur/developers Paul Rowley, Bill Gregory, Art Dore and associates.
Obviously, the siren song of a casino won't be sung here. The city commission has ruled that out, and the presence of two Chippewa tribal casinos within a 40 mile radius would seem to obviate that course.
Despite the fact that a nearby casino development apparently gave heart to Pinconning folks who finally passed a school bond issue on the 14th try, the economic development benefits of a casino are uncertain. Like Wal-Mart does to other retailers, a casino tends to draw off all the nearby restaurant-bar business, leaving local establishments hurting for customers.
And poverty increases around a casino, shown by the fact that the highest poverty in Michigan is in Isabella County -- a shocking 24 percent of the population. People on marginal incomes are drawn to plunge their modest cash into dreams of striking it rich, leaving them short of food and money for utility bills and other necessaries.
However, there are jobs at a casino and that may be incentive enough to take heart in its development, especially in areas like northern Bay and Arenac counties that have long been needy.###
| Printer Friendly Story View |
|
|
Dave Rogers |
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Story View
0200 Nd: 04-20-2024 d 4 cpr 0
12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm
SPONSORED LINKS
12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm