> Community News > Local News

Email: "New condos ready"
*To:		<--TO Email REQUIRED!
*From:		<--FROM Email REQUIRED!

HANCOCK — Kevin Geshel is excited that the Canal Crossings Condominiums next to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge are completed and selling.

Geshel, who is director of development for the condos builder and owner Moyle Real Estate & Development, said although the project faced criticism for its location and proposed design when it was first announced two years ago, he thinks it turned out well.

“It’s a pretty interesting structure,” Geshel said.

In May 2006, the company began construction soon after it received the approval of the Hancock Planning Commission and Hancock City council, Geshel said.

The site, which was purchased from Hancock, was being used to store Michigan Department of Transportation equipment, Geshel said, but the city was looking for a way to get tax revenue from the site.

“Hancock really wanted something here,” he said.

The company conducted an open house for the condominiums Saturday, which Geshel said was attended by about 700 people.

There are 21 two-bedroom units in the building, and two are under contract, Geshel said. They range in cost from $270,000 to $350,000, and the target market is young professionals.

Moyle company officials decided to make the the luxury condominiums because they felt there was a need for those kinds of dwellings that was unfilled locally.

When the initial drawings of the building were made, they showed the facade to be brick, but Geshel said that was soon changed.

“We looked at it and right away we thought it looked institutional,” he said.

The facade chosen is stucco and fieldstone.

The criticism the project received at the beginning, Geshel said included blocking of the view of the canal to the east and the probability that it would be too noisy with the building being close to the bridge so the units wouldn’t sell.

Geshel said any blocking of the view for drivers would be temporary.

“If you’re driving the speed limit, you’re probably talking three or four seconds,” he said.

As for the noise factor, Geshel said a common hallway was built on both floors on the side facing the bridge, which acts as a partial sound buffer. There is also soundproofing material throughout the building.

The project took longer than was expected, but Geshel said that was because company officials wanted to be certain quality was maintained in the construction.

“We’re not doing fast,” he said. “We’re trying to do it right.”

Geshel said once a unit is sold, it will take about eight weeks to get it to the specifications of the buyer.

There will be a supervisor to maintain the common areas of the building, Geshel said, and eventually it’s expected the occupants will form an owners’ association to decide how the common areas will be used.

Geshel said the view of Houghton and the canal is the main reason company officials decided to build the condominiums where they did.

“People are buying a view and they’re getting a condo with it,” he said.



Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com

 

Subscribe to The Daily Mining Gazette

Share: