THE FAIRFIELD INN isn’t wasting any time. They’re planning to break ground for their new hotel in south Marquette on June 27th, according to architect Barry Polzin.
The City Commission this week approved dividing the last of the Founders Landing properties on Lakeshore Boulevard, which allows Fairfield Inn, a Marriott property, to begin construction immediately. Home Renewal Systems, which is buying the other half of the property, will take more time before building condos at the site.
The expectation is that most of the exterior work for the Fairfield will be completed before the snow falls this winter, though that’s always unpredictable.
Expected opening date: Next spring.
“It’s going to be a prototypical Fairfield Inn structure,” Polzin says, “but with some aesthetic changes. We’ll be using materials appropriate for Marquette, and the building will fit the site.” Bricks and wood siding.
Three stories high. Ninety-two rooms.
The condos will be located on the north end of the property, close to the existing condos, while the hotel will be on the south end. However, the extreme south end of the property, directly across from Farmer Q’s, will be an out lot, with no development planned there yet.
It’s hard to imagine it will stay vacant for long.
South Marquette is booming. Relatively speaking.
SPEAKING OF FOUNDERS Landing, One Marquette Place, the huge new lakeside apartment building, is starting to fill up.
A couple of months ago, occupancy was only at about fifty percent. Polzin, who’s the architect and one of the partners in the project, says they’re now at seventy percent. And a marketing campaign is about to get underway.
The project got off to a rough start late last year and earlier this year with several delays and a few construction problems, but those seem to be behind them now.
Exterior work is now being finished up now that summer’s here. (Pause for laugh).
The first floor cafe to be located streetside in the building? Still no details or timetable released yet.
YOU’VE PROBABLY SEEN the bottles on store shelves around here–Iron Fish Distillery whiskey, bourbon, vodka, gin, and rum.
It’s Michigan’s first farm distillery and it was co-founded by former Marquette residents Richard and Sarah Anderson three years ago downstate in Thompsonville.
They love Marquette but they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy a 120 acre farm and start producing their own booze. They started from scratch but now, three years in, they’re making it. More than breaking even, Richard tells us.
Plenty of awards already and they’re expanding their distribution. That’s why you see them increasingly in stores around town.
Another example of people having a vision, taking a risk, but pursuing it nevertheless. And succeeding. It can happen with ambitious young folks. Or with oldsters. Richard’s in his sixties.