NOT A DONE deal yet.
But there’s a pending offer to buy the old Beacon House on Third Street.
Beacon House CEO Mary Tavernini-Dowling says the buyer is doing his due diligence which should be completed by the end of November. The sale itself, if it goes through, will likely happen before the end of the year.
It’s good news for the Beacon House which, of course, is in the middle of a fundraising campaign to relocate over to the campus of the new hospital, but needed to sell the old, now vacant facility. Tavernini-Dowling says they’re not making any money on the sale; they’re just getting out from under the mortgage.
The Beacon House provides rooms for patients and their families who need temporary homes in Marquette while the patients are receiving care at the hospital. Thirty-nine rooms in all.
The buyer of the property? Tavernini-Dowling can only say at this point that he’s a UP businessman who’s got an exciting, innovative plan for the building. Hotel? Condos? Apartments? Offices? Can’t say, at least not yet. But the building will not be torn down. It’ll be renovated.
Rumor control alert! It will not be the new location of the Room at the Inn.
It’s prime property. On busy Third Street, near the university, the Dome, the Berry Events Center, and the soon-to-be-vacant old hospital (which, of course, is another story whose ending has not yet been told).
As for the new Beacon House, they need $3 million to start the project. They’re currently at $1.9 million. Donations continue coming in, according to Tavernini-Dowling, from big-hitters and small.
Everybody, check your pockets. Dig deep. All we need is $1.1 million to start laying the foundation.
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