Front Page

Revitalizing Calumet

Village receives $1.1M grant

CALUMET - The announcement of a $1.1 million grant through Michigan's Revitalization and Placemaking (RAP) program was welcome news across the Village of Calumet. The money is to assist with the historic rehabilitation of two long abandoned and blighted buildings in the downtown corridor.

Both 425 and 427 5th Street will be redeveloped by Nathan McParlan, owner of MCP Properties, LLC. His plans include creating seven residential apartments and three commercial spaces between the two buildings. "I'm excited to see this project get started," McParlan said. "It will transform the fourth block of 5th Street."

This sentiment is shared by Nikki L'Esperance, Chairperson of Calumet's Downtown Development Authority (DDA). "Any building that gets redone and brought back to life is very exciting for us," said L'Esperance, "because one of our biggest goals, especially at the DDA level, is historic preservation. Through that, of course, you're also reducing blight."

Megan Haselden, Calumet Village Manager and DDA Administrator, said the village is "thankful to have a pretty deep relationship with Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance. They have been so helpful in working with developers to bring back businesses into these places, as well as bring in long term residential housing, which is something that we have identified as a top priority here in the village."

She also pointed out redevelopment work like this really takes years. "I mean, these two buildings have taken a lot just to stabilize them," Haselden said. "There have been grants in the past from the National Park Service that have been used to put a roof on one of them, and to help make sure we don't lose the buildings. As a village, we're so thankful that developers are really seeing the value of saving these historic properties."

"This is an interesting project," continued Haselden, "where it is taking those two buildings for redevelopment, one which is held by the Houghton County land bank authority and one which is held by our DDA. This project is going to have a two-part local match [from the Village of Calumet], one that will be the building that the DDA owns itself, and the other will be the village allowing the developer to create a parking lot in a lot owned by the village."

She pointed out that the lot currently has Calumet's community garden. "That will be moving out this year, and a parking lot will be developed there, that the municipality will then own. This project is a win-win all around. That blend of private and public investment is essentially how you can save a historic village like Calumet."

L'Esperance is grateful the plans are for a mixed-use space. "It's always fun to be able to get residents in as well as commercial spaces and grow both of those fronts for our downtown. Seeing growth in both is great, especially when we need more housing. Being able to utilize spaces that haven't been utilized and adding more living options is great as well."

"I think that we're experiencing some population growth just because of those redevelopment efforts that are underway," added Haselden. She also stressed, "One thing I think is important with this project is that it is going to be creating seven long term residential apartments and won't be short term rentals or AirBnBs. There is a focus on having those apartments be affordable and one of those apartments will even be on the first floor and be ADA accessible."

"Calumet has been such a beauty," L'Esperance said, "but the full potential is being discovered again. It's so fun to see everything from a hotel to more living spaces to more commercial spaces growing. I think all of these efforts will bring more business to our downtown which is really exciting. We're picking up speed and getting to somewhere that has been a dream for many, many people in our downtown for a long time."

She continued, "I feel like Calumet in general has been climbing this hill and we're finally getting to the top. It feels like everything is coming together with so many different efforts on so many fronts."

Haselden said the village often talks about "watching the trickle of development carry down Fifth street. That 100-block has been pretty stable for a while now. Then it kind of trickled down to the 200-block and now the 300-block with the Greenspace and Hotel Calumet. This project takes it even further down into the 400-block. It's been a really exciting time to be in the community and see that redevelopment happen."

Agreeing, L'Esperance said, "Every single month, things are moving and it seems like someone is starting a project or there is a new business moving downtown or someone bought a building and has plans to revitalize it. On the DDA front, we're really focused on how we can keep people coming downtown, what we can do to keep our downtown beautiful, do our businesses have what they need, and how can we keep things looking good for everyone?"

"The DDA appreciates support on anything we're doing," she continued. "We don't have a huge budget so we're just supporting what we can, where we can. There is so much more happening behind the scenes than I think people realize, and especially for such a small village like Calumet, it's pretty amazing how much work is getting done and how much progress is being made."