Elements of Calumet’s past and present are vital to maximizing the village’s potential.

Last month’s Meet the Developers showcased the spirit of collaboration from village officials, business owners and agencies in the area.

The revitalization of the village of Calumet includes maintaining its historic fabric, said Executive Director of the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance, Jeff Ratcliffe.

Seven years ago village officials including current Village Manager Rob Tarvis and Leah Polzein, Executive Director of Main Street Calumet and Chairwoman of the Downtown Development Authority had sparked the initiative to revitalize the village.

The first step, said Ratcliffe, was to bring the Houghton County Land Bank into the plan, which currently owns the section of the 100 block of Fifth Street that was destroyed by fire.

In addition 425 Fifth Street requires several updates including stabilization and roof repairs.

“We were able to get a $100,000 grant this past year from the State Historic Preservation Office,” said Ratcliffe, “We are in the process of working right now of getting that moved forward to bids.”

Restoring a number of buildings will require extensive work, including having drawings completed, bid specifications completed, approval from SHPO, and replacing the roof.

“If they’re gone, we can’t get somebody to develop them,” said Ratcliffe. “So, our goal is to hang on to them, get them stabilized, get roofs on them, and so on.”

Structures in the village include 511 Fifth Street, a shop house (a building type serving both as a residence and a commercial business).

Plans for that structure include it being removed from its present location and placed in the 400 block, next to the current community gardens, where shop houses once stood.

“We can get that on a new foundation, get a roof on it,” Ratcliffe said, “and make that one available for development.”

There is also 308 Eighth Street, that is stable.

The Hermann Flatt building, at 106 Sixth Street. That building was constructed by a German immigrant jeweler and watchmaker, Joseph Hermann in 1898. Currently, only the two-story, sandstone shell still stands.

“We have a small grant application in to SHPO,” Ratcliffe said, “to get just some interim stabilization; get the masonry up at the top cleaned up, moved, stock-piled, modified concrete along the top to stop the infiltration of the water straight down into it,”

The goal there, said Ratcliffe, is to stabilize it, remove the debris.

“Again,” said Ratcliffe, “if we hold onto this fabric, we’ll get it back,” adding that programs have existed for a long time, which includes the Community Redevelopment Program, part of the state Economic Development Act.

“So, we’re making progress,” he said. “It’s slow. It’s one building at a time, and yes; it takes love, it takes passion. It’s not about making much money, but for small business Calumet is doing great.”

Developers

present projects

In addition to respective agencies and grant funding, private business owners and residents of the village are taking on the task of improving existing properties. Five developers, some of who own one building, while others own two or more, shared presentations on progress updates to their properties.

One such developer is Joe Miller, who owns the building located at 104 Fifth Street which, as Village Manager Megan Hazelden pointed out, is the only building to have survived the fire of that section of the block on May 21, 2021.

Miller, a structural engineer, whose business, Fire Tower Engineered Timber, was renting the basement of the building when the fire occurred. The business temporarily moved into a space in Calumet Township. Miller said his employees began to express their desire to return to the downtown district of the village.

Miller said he initially looked at other locations but felt no one else would invest in rehabilitating 104 Fifth street. The building was still standing, he said, but it the interior had suffered substantial smoke and water damage and fire had gotten into the roof cavity.

The building needed a new roof, a new boiler and extensive masonry repair. Estimated costs for repair came in at approximately twice the appraised value of the building, after the repairs had been made.

Miller said he worked with Jeff Ratcliffe to find available grant funds to assist with the repair costs.

“We ended up finding one that seemed to match pretty well with what our intent was,” Miller said, “which was to re-occupy the space as it was originally built.”

Originally, the building had included office space both downstairs and upstairs, the upstairs had at some point, been converted to an apartment. Fire Tower was renting the downstairs at the time of the fire.

With the building being restored to its original plan, however, Miller’s business can now utilize the entire building.

Morten Haugland, owner of Jim’s Pizza, on Sixth Street, is currently restoring the original Baer and Dymock Meat Market, on the corner of Fifth and Portland streets, which was built in 1868 and one of the few to survive the village fire of 1870 and is a significant part of the history of the village.

Peterlin Distributing started operations in the building in 1939, Haugland said. While working in the building, he discovered several items from the business’ first year of operation. Additionally, a sister of the Peterlin brothers also operated a salon in the building, from which items were found. Haugland said those items were presented to the distributing company, which is still in the Peterlin family.

Haugland said the building had been significantly altered by a few renovations over its lifetime. When he purchased it, the walls were rotted, the roof was caving in.

The first step after Haugland acquired the building was to put a temporary roof on it, he said. With support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the building has been stabilized and now has a sprinkler system installed. When the restoration of the building is complete, he said, the building is will house three residential units and two commercial spaces, including a pottery shop with pottery lessons.

Haugland also has plans to restore the facade of the Jim’s Pizza building on Sixth Street. Haugland recently purchased the Ruppe Block (the former Penny building) and also owns the former Rowe Furniture building located at 215 Fifth Street.

The next installment in this series will detail the final presentations made by developers last month.