Makeovers: now or later?

by Doug Henze

Like retail business owners in many Michigan downtowns, Steve Loftis has watched fellow merchants leave over the years. First it was to shopping malls. Then, more recently, they have gone out of business.

That’s why Loftis, a developer who also owns Harbor Restaurants Inc., is helping Grand Haven city officials push a streetscape plan that would completely renovate three blocks of Washington in the heart of the city’s business district.

The expense and disruption of such a project in tough economic times — the price tag would be about $5.6 million — has caused a split among business owners. Some are leery of making such an investment now, while others, such as Loftis, want to forge ahead.

“We have been battling the dilemma of malls and the regionalization of shopping,” he said, adding that merchants also have felt the drag of the current economy. “You feel like you’re static and you’re stuck, but you’re really not. There are things you can do, rather than sitting on your thumbs and waiting for things to happen. We will have an opportunity to draw in groups of people we haven’t.”

The city council, in early March, approved the drafting of a budget for the project and set a public hearing to gather comments from residents. The renovation would include everything from replacement of 100-year-old water and sewer pipes and the addition of more attractive street lighting to a pricey snowmelt system.

“We have some retailers (and) building owners who feel they’re close enough to the tip-over point that any disruption in business will be fatal,” said Loftis, past chairman of the Downtown Development Authority and the owner of Snug Harbor, The Grand Seafood & Oyster Bar, and other establishments. “The basic question was: now or later? [But] why have two slow periods?”

Question of cost
And, of course, there’s the question of cost.

Part of the project’s cost would be covered by city funds, grants and monies from a tax increment financing district, which uses revenue from future development to retire bonds used for an area’s improvement. However, the average downtown business also would face a special assessment of an estimated $500 to $600 a year for 20 years.

Bob Hutchinson, owner of sporting goods and clothing store Buffalo Bob’s, said he thinks the burden is too much. Updating infrastructure is one thing, but putting in a snowmelt system — which would account for about $2.6 million of the total project cost — brings an unnecessary expense, he said.

“In this economy, I don’t agree with it,” Hutchinson said. “We still live in Michigan. It’s still going to snow. Everybody’s going to put their boots on when they leave home whether three blocks of pavement in Grand Haven are heated or not. I just think it’s an awful expense for a long period of time. That’s a lot of sales I have to do just to come out even. I don’t think we need it now or 10 years from now.”

The model for the snowmelt system, which would capture waste heat discharged from the local power plant, is the neighboring community of Holland. That city has had heated downtown streets and sidewalks for years.

“I go down to Holland and I see a ton of empty stores,” Hutchinson said. “I don’t think they’re doing any better than we are.”

Joy Gaasch, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg, called Holland a “shining example” of what a snowmelt system can provide.

“It really provides Holland a competitive edge in their downtown,” she said.
Such a snowmelt system would add to Grand Haven’s project cost, but it also would bring a long-term savings, Loftis said.

“The infrastructure lasts twice as long, because you’re not salting and plowing,” he said.

Hutchinson said he believes the streets and sidewalks are in need of repair. He’d like to see the project happen outside the summertime tourist season, though.

“I don’t think there’s a good time for being in business to have your main street torn up, but it’s got to be done,” he said.

Merchant Rheba Bolt, who owns card and stationery shop The Paper Place, said she’s fully in support of the downtown revitalization — snowmelt and all.

“I believe we have an aging population in Grand Haven, and across the nation, that is growing,” Bolt said. “If they can’t access retail (because of slippery sidewalks), they’re not going to shop. I know of five people who fell this winter (in the downtown).”

Bolt said she understands the logic behind holding off on downtown renovation until the dawning of a brighter economic day, but she believes it’s the wrong way to go.

“Do you want to do it in a bust time? I can see where you’d say, ‘No,’” she said. “Do you want to do it in a boom time? Heck no! I’d rather get it done. The downtown is in need of a facelift. It’s a little sad. To my mind, it fits in with the stimulus package that just passed.

“Do I think it’s going to economically hurt us? [It’s] a possibility. There is the flip side that says where construction projects happen people come down, because they want to see the construction project.”

Phase two
The downtown revitalization idea isn’t a new one. In fact, the current renovation being considered would be the project’s second phase.

In 2006 and 2007, the city spent $3.1 million to upgrade parking lots and alleyways, said Dana Kollewehr, Grand Haven’s Main Street DDA director. The parking lots were reconfigured to maximize space, utility lines were buried and new storm water retention ponds were installed.

At the same time, private developers went to work. Loftis, for example, tore down part of the old Grand Theater, creating 20 condominiums and his seafood restaurant.

“It was a perfect redevelopment opportunity, where the theater had gone into disrepair for so many years,” he said.

The city also reworked zoning rules to reserve street-level space for retail users and to encourage development of downtown housing.

With the next redevelopment phase being considered, businesses are divided about evenly as to whether to do it now or wait, Kollewehr said.

“Besides the cost, I think the majority of businesses are supportive of it,” she said. “I think it will breathe life into the downtown. As we try to attract new businesses, but also new development into the downtown, we have needs for new infrastructure.”
If the project is approved, the city plans to take it one block at a time, meaning parts of the downtown could be torn up until spring 2011.

“There are always going to be some disruptions when you do construction projects, but we can come up with ways to keep citizens informed that the downtown is open for business,” Kollewehr said. “They do have rear entrances to many of the buildings.”

For all the disruption a major downtown renovation might bring, it needs to happen now, especially if the city hopes to attract a knowledge-based workforce, Gaasch said.

“If we don’t have the infrastructure that says we’re a happenin’ place, we aren’t going to be able to attract that individual,” she said. “It’s a critical piece of Grand Haven’s future.

“Every so often, we all need a facelift. Communities are no different. They need to pick themselves up and dust themselves off.”

Doug Henze is a freelance writer and former business writer for the Oakland Press in Pontiac.