THE FRONT DOOR has been locked and the lights have been out for the last few weeks, but the Recovery Room is not closed.
Just a temporary shutdown for inventory, according to co-owner Linda Lassing.
She says it’ll reopen in early February, from 5 pm until closing, Wednesday through Sunday. Bar only, no more restaurant.
If you’re shutting down temporarily, mid-winter is probably the best time to do it. Business is slow, even downtown.
Meantime, the Recovery Room remains up for sale. Latest word is, there’s a potential interested buyer. Of course, we’ve heard that before, only to see the deals fall through.
Fingers crossed.
A YEAR AGO, it sounded like a wish, a hope, a pipe dream.
A group of local beer-lovers said they were forming the Marquette Brewing Cooperative. A bar in south Marquette where they’d brew their own beer and offer lifetime memberships to anyone who wanted to come up with $99.
Now, a year later, it seems less like a pipe dream and more like a reality.
One-hundred-fifty-seven members have forked out the cash, and interior demolition of the tap room has begun. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. The building itself is owned by one of the members.
The next step for the cooperative is to offer “preferred memberships” which will give returns on investments. David Gill, the president of the cooperative, says there’s serious interest in the preferred memberships, and the cash raised will be sufficient to open up the cooperative by late this year or, at latest, the summer of 2019.
EXPECT TO SEE a major change along Lakeshore Boulevard near the Hampton Inn over the next few months.
The new apartment complex, One Marquette Place, will be rising to a full five stories above the ground. The two level underground garage is already in place. You can already see the first floor taking shape–that’s where a cafe and office suite will be located.
Operation of the cafe is being seriously considered by an “experienced local restaurateur,” we’re told,
All told, One Marquette Place will offer 64 apartments. High end. Beautiful views. Critics may object to the shoreline development, but keep in mind the property previously had been a wasteland–occupied by a coal pile, lumber mill, and tank farm at different times in its history.
Is there a market for pricey apartments here?
“We’ve already got 30 interested people on the waiting list,” says architect and partner Barry Polzin.
He expects the first of the apartments to be open for occupancy in September. Seems optimistic. We’ll see.
BY THE WAY, that large, vacant property south of the Founders Landing condos has been drawing some interest lately.
Outside investors, apparently. They’ve been talking to Polzin.
The property, of course, is still owned by the city, and the thought, several years back, was that the property would probably be appropriate for offices.
What the potential investors have in mind for it, we don’t know.
Regardless, Lakeshore Boulevard in south Marquette has changed radically in the last several years. Its still changing. Big money for big buildings has poured in; not everybody’s happy about it.
NO CELEBRITY GOLF tournament this year.
It’s been a huge success over the past several years as a fundraiser for the Beacon House, but CEO Mary Tavernini says all of her and the board’s efforts this year have to be devoted to the capital campaign.
Namely, raising money to build a new Beacon House on the campus of the new hospital. She figures it’ll cost about $3 million to build the first phase of the new Beacon House which would provide 20 beds for outpatients and families who need to stay close to the hospital.
Two subsequent phases would provide an additional 40 beds and cost another $3 million.
So far, Tavernini says they’ve raised a half million dollars but they just swung into high gear on January 1st. A high-rollers “pledge party” at the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island is scheduled for June–Steve Mariucci, who’s got serious connections, is helping with that.
The current Beacon House, which is still providing rooms for those in need, remains up for sale. The asking price is $1.5 million. The Beacon House owes $900,000 on it, according to Tavernini.
THAT NEW HONDA commercial shot in Marquette is out.
And if you watch carefully, you’ll recognize a few specific locations.
Most notably, Contrast Coffee–a woman entering the coffee shop and enjoying a hot cup of java while checking her computer. Yeah, that pretty well summarizes the scene at Contrast.
The ad agency wanted snow because the commercial was all about winter driving. They found it that day in Marquette.
NICOLE YOUNG, THE former director of Travel Marquette, has a new job.
She’ll be providing consulting and training to help entrepreneurs in the U.P. as part of “Step UP Your Business,” a program just launched by Michigan Small Business Development Center. They’ll be focusing on businesses affected by the closure of the Empire Mine.
Until a few months ago, Young headed up Travel Marquette but suddenly left the job and town without public notice. Neither the Convention and Visitors Board which runs Travel Marquette nor Young, herself, has said much about her departure. Likely, she had some difficulty getting along with the Board.
A new executive director for the agency is expected to be hired in February.
THE LEGEND GROWS.
“Surfer Dan’s” frosty beard adorns another feature news story, this one from Mlive last month.
Everybody loves the story. Hardy 39 year-old Marquette man takes his surfboard into 36 degree water, surfs the relatively modest waves on Lake Superior, and emerges with a smile and a beard cloaked with ice.
Crazy.
What’s not to love?
You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com