THE FOR SALE sign at Coco’s has disappeared leading some to wonder whether the restaurant’s been sold.
Nope.
It’s just being listed with a new realtor, Gina Feltner Bouws of RE/MAX. She tells us a new For Sale sign is being prepared and should go up soon.
Coco’s, on Lakeshore Boulevard across from the beach, has been closed for almost two years. There’s been plenty of interest because it’s a unique and attractive property, but no buyers.
You got a little change in your pocket? Asking price for the building on its one and a half acres of land is $799,900.
Or you could just buy the building on half the property for $624,900. Or buy the other piece of land with no building for $224,900.
Or–as we all know–you could just make an offer.
LOTTA QUESTIONS ABOUT that imposing barricade being constructed alongside the Post Office and the federal court on Third Street and Washington.
It’s a federal project, part of the Marquette Secure Perimeter Protection. A nationwide program to protect federal buildings.
Associated Constructors of Marquette is installing the barricade. Technically, according to project manager Pete Ryynanen, those are protective steel bollards. They’ll be filled with concrete and given a bronze-colored covering.
The sidewalk and curb are going in next.
And finally, in November, a 40 foot flagpole will be installed.
ROOM AT THE Inn is still looking for a permanent home for the homeless in Marquette.
Not likely to happen anytime soon for the obvious reason: no money.
Executive director Doug Russell says they’ll soon be expanding Room at the Inn’s Board from seven to 17 members to increase the group’s footprint in the Marquette. And then, he hopes, they’ll be able to start a capital campaign to buy a building.
They’ve been looking at the up-for-sale Beacon House on Third Street ($1 million plus) and would love to buy it but….it’s way beyond their current budget.
Interesting info from Russell. He says Third Street and Washington Street are both zoned for homeless shelters. Not likely to please some of the merchants there.
GET READY FOR a new news source in Marquette.
Marquette Today. You’ve probably seen some of its postings on Facebook and Instagram in recent weeks.
Justin Carlson of Carlson Media (and the administrator of WOTS) will be partnering with Kurt Mensching, a former Mining Journal reporter and most recently a staffer with SB Nation, to put out the digital publication.
Hyperlocal. Marquette news. Three or four stories daily. At least that’s the plan.
Carlson says Marquette Today will include “sponsored stories,” which are essentially a combination of news stories and advertisements. Advertisers will pay for the stories but Carlson says they’ll also have news value.
Is Marquette ready for a new, digital competitor to the Mining Journal and the TV stations? We’ll find out. Marquette Today is currently posting photos, videos and re-posts, but hopes to start publishing original stories by October 1st.
STILL NO DECISION on what will be going into that spot on Washington Street where the Skanska-Closner building is now located.
That’s been the construction office for the new hospital for the last couple of years.
Once construction is completed, could it be a restaurant? A medical supply office? Condos??? A green space?
By the way, there is an access road to the hospital just behind the property, but that will be a road only for hospital service vehicles, not for patients.
DON’T EXPECT THE small but highly regarded Benri Sushi to be moving to a more visible location anytime soon. It’s got a two year lease in the basement level of the Masonic building downtown.
How’s it doing? “We’re doing all right,” co-owner Thomas Flemal tells us. Better than Escanaba, their previous location? “Oh, much better. Tenfold better.”
He and Charlene Donovan, his co-owner and fiancee, are still commuting from Gladstone where their children attend school. They’re open only four days a week (Tuesday through Friday) and they sometimes run out of food because they prepare everything fresh and they don’t want to waste good food.
They’re looking forward to NMU’s fall session because students and professors, along with downtown workers, are some of their most faithful customers.
Ya gotta believe, though, if they were in a more prominent location at street level, their business would take off.
“HONESTLY, IT JUST fell into my lap. I’ve been doing interviews for the Chamber with Walt and it’s been a lot of fun…and then this happened.”
That’s Kelsey Niemisto, the executive director of the Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Chamber of Commerce, explaining how she’ll soon be transitioning to her new job as co-host with Walt Lindala on the Sunny Morning Show on Sunny FM.
She’s now training for the radio gig while also working at the Chamber. She’ll likely take to the air sometime after Labor Day.
You might also remember her from her time as a reporter at Fox UP a few years ago. By the way, her maiden name is Niemisto. She’s now married and will be known on the radio as Kelsey Reyes.
PRICELESS ADVERTISING AND and it didn’t cost a cent.
9&10 News out of Cadillac spent three days in the UP last week, mostly in Munising, and basically fell in love with the Roam Inn and Tracey’s, the town’s acclaimed boutique hotel and restaurant.
Seven live shots out of the hotel one morning. Another seven on another morning out of the newly open Eh Burger restaurant downtown. And more coverage in Marquette.
Priceless. Ana Dolaskie, one of the hotel’s co-owners, says a local media operation once offered to do similar “news” coverage on the hotel…but they wanted money for it. Serious money.
MORE LOVE FOR Marquette.
This, in the September edition of Lake Superior Magazine. Four pages of coverage in “3 Days in Marquette.”
The writer refers to our little burg as …”a basecamp for year-round recreation with golf courses, a ski hill, standup paddle-boarding, surfing, world-class biking and cross-country skiing…”
She forgot to mention camping, kayaking, and hiking.
But she did mention a laundry list of Marquette’s finest commercial establishments, like Vango’s, the Landmark Inn, Beth Millner Jewelry, Getz’s, Blackrocks, the Vierling and on and on and on…..
You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com