Zoom screen capture On Tuesday, Veridea presented a new vision for the Houghton Waterfront Project during a Houghton County Planning Commission meeting.

HOUGHTON — The Veridea Group unveiled renderings for its proposal for a mixed-use development on the current site of the large parking deck on Lakeshore Drive during a joint meeting of Houghton’s city council, planning commission and Downtown Development Authority Tuesday night.

The proposal includes a mix of retail, hotel, conference center and residential space between Huron and Quincy streets, as well as green space on adjoining property to the east.

Veridea CEO Bob Mahaney said Veridea had worked to accommodate public concerns and to create something in line with the historic appearance of downtown. He estimated it would create around 200 jobs.

“This project represents over a $40 million investment downtown,” he said. “It will generate millions and millions of dollars in property tax revenues for the city over its useful life … it results in a significant increase to public access to downtown, or to the waterfront.. it strengthens the connection at the same time to the existing downtown businesses, resulting in increased green space.”

The proposal includes a five-story, 65-foot-high building off of Huron Avenue that would include a 100-room hotel. It would also have conference facilities with a capacity somewhere between 300 and 500. Retail and restaurant space would be on the ground floor.

In the building to the west will be apartments and/or an office building, which will be determined once Veridea completes its market studies, said Veridea CEO Bob Mahaney.

An existing residence along Lakeshore Drive will be preserved. West of that will be residential buildings, which Mahaney anticipates will have a mix of condominium ownership and apartment rentals.

There would be a band of green space around the perimeter of the development. Veridea’s plans also call for converting the surface parking lot between Huron and Isle Royale streets into a public square with green space. The space is a “key component of the entire development,” Mahaney said, and connects with the city’s pier project near Mattila Square.

“For people that are up on Shelden Avenue, it draws them down to the water,” he said. “It’s inviting. It’s open.”

The existing 42-year-old deck is past the end of its useful life, Mahaney said, citing a study by Pierce Engineering. Repairing the deck would cost about $2 million, Mahaney said. Rebuilding it would cost between $8 to $10 million.

The deck has 380 spaces, about 40 of which are out of service. Aside from large events such as Bridgefest, much of the space goes unused. During peak parking hours, the deck was between 40% to 48% full, according to a study released earlier this year by Walker consultants. The Walker study found 250 spots would meet the needs of Veridea’s development and day-to-day use from the public. The Veridea proposal has 277. The parking stalls will be in covered parking on two levels below the buildings.

A pedestrian connector from the parking deck would lead to a walkway along the rear entrances of businesses on Shelden Avenue.

The process of creating the proposal had been slowed due to COVID, Mahaney said. He said Veridea had also tried to stay silent during the election ad the August ballot initiative on soliciting more public input.

“We didn’t want anyone at the end of the process to say that they had somehow interjected themselves into a community decision,” he said.

Along with multiple meetings with the Lakeshore Drive Redevelopment Committee, Veridea also had feedback from individual community members and business owners.

From that came several objectives: Creating more green space. Adding significant commercial development to draw more people to downtown. Minimize the impact of the parking structures and designing buildings that still allow viewscapes to the waterfront.

Questioned about the lack of green space within the purchase area itself, Mahaney said they were constrained by the parking requirements and the long, narrow space.

In addition to the space east of the property and the band around it, some green space was also put in in a non-public area between apartment buildings, Mahaney said.

“The net impact of our development is that there is more green space than there is today,” he said. “We wish we could do more, but there’s a real challenge in balancing the size of our development … we need to get enough critical mass to justify the investment, yet at the same time we’d love to have as much green space as possible.”

Public comment on the proposal was deferred until Wednsday’s City Council meeting, when the council is slated to discuss it.