LET’S NOT GET overly excited about the reopening of the Upfront (to be renamed The Harbor) just yet.
It’s not a done deal, not even close, according to an executive who works for the current owner Rhys Mussman in Indiana.
This executive indicates there’s been no apparent progress on getting financing for the deal over the last few months, and the deadline is November 15th. After that, unless there’s an extension, the deal is dead.
There are two names on the purchase agreement, according to the executive, but it seems unlikely that they, themselves, are the investors. Rather, they’re searching for investors who would be willing to commit more than $4 million to the enterprise, and they have three weeks to get them and their money on board.
Now, if you talk to one of the locals involved in the proposed purchase, you get a different story. Total enthusiasm. The deal is moving along. Plans are being made.
In fact, they’ve launched a new ipetitions site soliciting support for their project.
The Harbor, we’re told, will open in the summer of 2017 in all likelihood–a combination bar, restaurant, nightclub, and banquet room with live music likely four nights a week, and a DJ on the other nights.
And The Harbor, according to plans, will have a closer tie to the local community than the Upfront had.
It all sounds good. But no employees so far, no serious money spent, and according to the Indiana executive, the proposed purchasers have no authorization to do any work inside the building.
So we’ll wait with fingers crossed until November 15th, hoping that the big For Sale sign out front suddenly reads “Sold.”
But we’ll temper that hope with the realization that these big money deals frequently run into complications, and sometimes into dead ends.
JUST AROUND THE corner from Upfront, on Front Street, you’ll hear the actual sounds of construction.
The storefront next to Johnson Printing is being renovated, and by next summer it’ll be a personal training studio. Not a fitness gym with hundreds of members and tons of equipment, but a studio.
For individuals and small groups seeking to get in shape.
Certified personal trainer Tom Stone is having the building remodeled for his business which at this point operates out of homes.
Stone played hockey at NMU several years ago, and his wife is from Marquette, so they’ve relocated here after stays in Los Angeles and Denver.
Again, it strikes us that, with all our gyms and personal trainers in town, Marquette residents must be remarkable physical specimens.
906 TECHNOLOGIES AND 906 Engineering are on the move.
Come December, they’ll be moving into the old, abandoned Marquette Township offices on County Road 492, just off the highway behind Culvers.
Currently, the two associated companies are leasing separate buildings so this new site, which they’ll own, makes sense.
The two companies employ 37 people. More growth likely lies ahead.
CEO Lee Francisco says there’s a chance they’ll decide to expand the building, but that decision won’t be made until next year.
You got news? Email briancabell@gmail.com.
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