In Manistee they are looking to install 'affordable' rental housing in the heart of the downtown, just like what was approved in Ludington last year with the bowling alley block.   The scope of the deal will be about half of what Ludington's was, complete with 45 one and two bedroom apartments, three-fifths of which would be rented out at market rate, while the rest (40%) would be rent/income restricted.  A fairly small portion of the ground level of the proposed three story project taking place at the former Glik's Department Store (old timer's may remember this as Milliken's or Kennedy's) would be commercial space (3300 sq. ft., or roughly one-fourth of the current space (13,094 sq. ft.) on that floor).

The developer, the Hollander Development Corporation, is familiar to the Manistee community as the developer of two other Manistee rental properties, Reitz Park and Horizon Pointe.  As in those cases, they sought Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in order to finance the construction.  It has been undisclosed at this point whether they will seek other funding that may become available to them via the Michigan State Housing Authority (MSHDA), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), or other public housing financiers funded through taxation. 

It is as yet unknown whether the local government will provide other incentives that Ludington gave out for their development last year, including Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) or establishing a TIF district.  As noted in such arrangements, the facility and its public services will be effectively subsidized by local taxpayers, some of whom will be in direct competition with the facility if they offer residential housing too.

The cost of the project is slated at around $8 million, which means that each one or two bedroom unit will cost just under $200,000 each to manufacture, or about twice the median home price in Manistee.  How efficient these programs are, when you could buy or build a couple of three bedroom houses for the same price as one of these units. 

Statistics seem to indicate that the City of Manistee already has a high rate of rental properties with only 61% of the housing units being owner-occupied, the addition of 45 units will only add about 4% of what they currently have in stock.

Manistee came out with a plan to rehab the Glik Building back in 2015 with Peter Allen & Associates coming out with a much less ambitious plan costing $3 million, providing 13 residential condo units and slightly less commercial space (2400 sq. ft.) for the same property.  Something didn't click, maybe all those unfilled condos already in Manistee played a part, maybe they didn't get the subsidies they wanted, so this was scrapped.  The cost per unit would have been slightly higher (around $230,000).

The announcement of the new project saw a variety of viewpoints speak up about it at the Ramsdell Inn on January 30, where the public was invited to hear about it from the developer and others.  TV 9&10 attended and reported on what some said about it.

Meg Voelker said:   "I think it will advance downtown tremendously it's been trying for years to attract more businesses.  I am absolutely for the Riverfront project I think this little town has been waiting to flourish for years and years and there's been a new store here or there but it's a beautiful area and we have so much to offer,"

Meg was a large part of the effort in the 2015 effort to rehab the building, as noted at the top of the plan, she also sits on the board of directors of the Vogue Theatre, which was another heavily subsidized venture, and has a series of videos promoting downtown Manistee.

Another proponent mentioned in the news video is former city councilor Eric Gustad, who also serves on the Alliance for Economic Success.  Developer Joe Hollander specifically mentioned this was the group that buttonholed him into this project.  Stacy Bytwork, director of the Manistee Chamber of Commerce also spoke highly of the project.  These insiders would be ostracized from their boards if they spoke against the project; take what they say with two grains of salt.  Each of them partner with government agencies to gather and spend taxpayer money for a living on pet projects not normally serving a traditional public purpose.

Others spoke up.  Oscar Carlson owns a cigar shop (seen below) across the street, and you may think that he would love the prospect of having up to 45 families move right next door and be in easy walking distance to buy his product.  Statistics say poorer folks smoke more than wealthy ones, so what's his problem?

"I'm very concerned about parking, because I own a business downtown and frankly if they throw that many vehicles in the mix there won't be parking for anyone else.  We make a living here so if there's a significant drop in business we need to make a living and if it's impacted too greatly we would have to move.  I'm not against change and I'm not against the apartments. I'm against the location where it's at."

In the Manistee newspaper another downtown business owner, Rachel Brooks, stated:  "It is frustrating to people that spent thousands of dollars, and continue to want to spend thousands of dollars, and did not get special treatment from the city or historic district-- and we followed those guidelines.  And we have a project right across the street from us in our downtown district that is now going to get special exceptions for their project."

The article mentioned several at the meeting spoke out against the project, but related only Brooks' concerns; this is typical of a newspaper that would tacitly back such a proposal.  Today the Historic Commission had a meeting which discussed the project as its primary agenda item.  Hopefully, the developer and the officials will listen to concerns during the process and the citizens will continue to speak out if and when the project dips into PILOTs and TIFs for funding. 

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After two failed attempts to make the Glik's Building into apartment housing complexes, it looks as if this property instead will get an occupant, but not one that would pay property taxes.  West Shore Community College haspurchased the building and "plans to use the space for holding classes and other college activities and events, it will assist the community in economic development."

That latter remains to be seen, however, they have spent just under a half million for the downtown building, and will need partners to make it successful, even though an anonymous donor has already given the effort $1 million of what they figure will be a $3.2 million effort.

I guess the third time is a charm. What ever happened to the days when private enterprise was just that, private and not propped up with tax dollars. So, taxpayers in Ludington, after being soaked for $100 million in new education debts,  are now paying for education projects in Manistee. Good move WSCC. If this new WSCC center is necessary then wouldn't it have been better for taxpayers and students to have a more centralized location for the center. I'll be sure to keep this in mind when another WSCC  millage vote reaches the ballot box. Thanks for the information X. 

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