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Ironic Fire Destroys Future Ludington Resource Center

An early morning fire totally destroys the old Lakeshore Lumber Building which was scheduled to be the centralized Ludington Resource Center, a place for needy people in the area to go for their staple products. As envisioned, the site would have looked like this after several cosmetic changes inside and out:

Instead now it looks like this after this morning:

Back in 2011, when Ludington City Councilor Brent Scott resigned from the council to live in Grand Rapids then donated the lot to the Ludington Foundation (because he couldn't sell it outright) who passed it to a big development LLC operating out of Muskegon who also received title to the bowling alley block, it wasn't noticed by many in the area.

More people took notice when the preparatory deal was made setting the table to clear out the bowling alley block including the Ludington Fire Station for a questionable developer. Part of the deal called for repurposing the old Scott lumberyard property. One lot would house a one-stop resource center for the area's poor, one lot would house the displaced fire station.

The irony here then is that the property that would have been in the shadows of the new fire station has just burnt down, and will probably not be rebuilt, allowing the new fire department to expand, or something else to move in.

Given that there are about twenty people on the fire department that might not want to share their parking spaces with a bunch of indigent folks going to their cars with bags of food and used furniture while they're cruising in for a call, was this a coincidence, or something secretly planned like all those backroom deals that got us to this point?

According to the COLDNews: It was just Wednesday when the building at 920 E. Tinkham Ave. was celebrated during a groundbreaking for construction of the new Lakeshore Resource Center. The combined local food pantry and hub to area help agencies is to be constructed at the site, near the Monona Drive intersection.

Now, construction will have to be of the whole building rather than an addition to the original structure, since a fire this morning destroyed the former Lakeshore Lumber building.

The Ludington Fire and Police departments responded to a call at 3:49 a.m. The building was engulfed in flames. No one was hurt, according to Fire Chief Jerry Funk.

There is nothing left to the structure, just a pile of rubble firefighters are spraying to cool down.

The scene is being investigated now by Ludington police and a state fire marshal is scheduled to come on Tuesday. No word yet on a possible cause.

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Permalink Reply by stump on September 2, 2016 at 10:56am

It was nice of them to include a sketch of you riding your bike .

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on September 2, 2016 at 1:22pm

As long as they don't try to sketch me into any pictures that place me very near this scene very early this morning, I will be fine with it, LOL.

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Permalink Reply by XLFD on September 2, 2016 at 5:15pm

It only gets more interesting. Am I the only one wondering why a modern lumberyard building didn't have an up-and-running fire suppression system (i.e. sprinklers) installed and operational after the groundbreaking? Oh, that's right, they cut the utilities for some unexplained reason. Am I the only one around that has thought all along that it's not a good idea in the first place to centralize food-distribution to the poor in one location? It's inefficient in many ways, inconvenient for many of the poor, and it's making a segment of our population vulnerable if this happens once it comes into fruition.

Fortunately, the organizers are going to bounce back and build a better facility with all that insurance they're likely to get; at least we know they've come out of shock this morning to start getting that and other things going on schedule despite this terrible setback.

LUDINGTON — The destruction of the future Lakeshore Resource Network building at 920 E. Tinkham Ave. early this morning will likely not cause a delay in the projected opening of the facility, which is scheduled for February of 2017.

Monica Schuyler, executive director of the Pennies from Heaven Foundation, which is one of the lead organizations in creating the multi-agency food and social services facility, said this morning’s fire at the building was a shock.

“Our groundbreaking ceremony was on Wednesday,” Schuyler said. “We were all very excited and taking a giant step forward. Now it feels like we will take a step back.”

Due to zoning setback restrictions, part of building had already been partially dismantled to make way for a future fire station, owned by the city. The remaining portion of the former Lakeshore Lumber building was going to be the home of the Lakeshore Resource Network. “Construction was scheduled to take place until after the holiday weekend, so no improvements had taken place inside,” Schuyler said. “We have been talking to the architect and Malliett Construction and they will make some adaptions. However, because they are no longer fixing up an old building, there may be a silver lining, allowing them to start fresh.”

Schuyler said the utilities had been shut off at the building, which makes the origin of the fire suspicious, she said. “The fire marshall is suppose to be here on Tuesday and we have already been in contact with our insurance agent. Hopefully once the investigation takes place we can move forward and still complete construction on time.”