Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette The former Hellman Transportation Center, vacant for several years, will become the focus of major revitalization as part of the city of Houghton’s North Landing Waterfront Talent District.

HOUGHTON – The City of Houghton is one of six Michigan communities awarded grants through the Michigan Talent Partnership Program (MTP). According to a press release from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Houghton was awarded $3,855,000 for development of its Waterfront Talent District, named North Landing.

The MEDC says funding will support the rehabilitation of a downtown building into a business and creative incubator space, strengthen multimodal connections between Houghton’s natural, cultural and business assets and expand spaces for cultural connection and community engagement.

Houghton City Manager Eric Waara said the target building is the former Hellman Transportation Center, at 326 Shelden Avenue.

Waara said he contacted the current owners who expressed an interest in selling it and received a letter of intent from the owners, which he included in the grant application. The building, which has been vacant for nearly eight years, is slated to become a small business incubator.

“We do a really good job here with emerging entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector,” Waara said. “We have all of these companies that the SmartZone has helped over the years, but when you think about it, what about the artist?”

Looking at emerging non-high-tech business is important to enhancing the community’s attraction, and increasing its business opportunities, Waara said. “What about the artists, or the maker, or the baker, or the person who wants to do a pop-up shop, or a farmer who doesn’t have a farmer’s market into the fall and winter season when they have stuff to sell?” Waara said the goal is to create a place in a healthy downtown where people want to live, work and raise their families. That, he said, is how a community gets its talent.

“So, I’m looking at our downtown and what would be game changing in our downtown? “Waara said. “What would really be an opportunity to make real changes downtown? And I look at the Hellman Transportation Center, and think okay, we had a project there, but it never came to be.”

Waara said this project aligns with the goals of the MTP by transforming a vacant and underutilized downtown property into an incubator space that fosters and supports locally owned businesses and vibrant street life, he said.

As stated in Houghton’s Michigan Talent Partnership Program Proposal, the interior of the building will be divided into workspaces ranging from 150 to 300 square feet. They will be connected to public areas on both Shelden Ave. and Lakeshore Drive, utilizing stairs and an elevator between the two levels. The spaces will be leased to creatives and emerging small businesses, providing a safe, affordable way to establish themselves and test the market–with the goal of eventually growing into their own downtown locations.