Vets Home Likely on Lakeshore, Demolition Contract for the Hospital Site, Numinen Throws Hat in the Ring, Hotels Continue Surge into Marquette, the Ever-Shrinking NMU…and $100,000 Teacher Salaries

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

IT LOOKS VERY likely now that the folks on Lakeshore Boulevard, across from the Lake, will be getting a new neighbor—a new Veterans Home… “We’ve done extensive environmental study of the site, and so far haven’t found anything that would be a problem,” says Anne Zerbe, the executive director of Michigan Veteran Homes. “I’ll be coming up to Marquette later this month to talk to city officials and listen to the public about any concerns they might have.”

Zerbe emphasizes that any contract the agency signs with the city would have contingencies, and that the property—the Cliffs-Dow site—would face remediation…Estimated cost for a new Veterans Home? $97 million…It would replace the current Jacobetti Veterans Home. The new Lakeshore facility would be mostly one-story buildings, providing a more home-like, less institutional atmosphere for the veterans.

Funding for the new Veterans Home was officially approved just a few days ago. Groundbreaking for the development, if no problems arise, would start next year…If, for some reason, a problem did crop up, Zerbe says they have two back-up sites, but their preference is the Cliffs-Dow property…Are the neighbors and the City Commission fully on-board? We’ll see.

“WE’RE EXCITED TO get things underway.” That’s Dave Nyberg, NMU’s Executive Director of Business Engagement and Economic Development, referring to the latest progress on  redeveloping the old hospital site--Namely, plans by the NMU Foundation to announce the signing of a demolition contract in the next few days…Removal of hazardous material would come first, then actual demolition would follow.

The Foundation and the Veridea Group are partners in the ambitious project—one of the most important in Marquette’s history—to transform the 23-acre property into a new, mostly residential neighborhood.

THERE’VE BEEN MAJOR delays, but it looks as though the Gaines Rock townhomes, across from the Lake, are finally nearing completion…22 of the 26 units have been closed on; the final four have contracts and are expected to close within weeks…The final touches on construction of those four still need to be completed, and then landscaping for the entire development remains…You’re wondering about the average cost of townhomes? Try $600,000.

A COURTROOM SWITCH…Karl Numinen, one of the county’s most prominent defense attorneys, is applying to become the next judge of the Marquette County Circuit Court…Judge Jennifer Mazzucchi recently announced that she would be resigning from the post in November…So why would Numinen choose to leave a successful law practice? “I turned 60 this year,” he says, “and I thought, by this time in my life, I’d be making a transition in my career, maybe into teaching or working for a nonprofit…This, I thought, would never come up, and it’s something I think I’d be really good at…” He points out that he has extensive experience in criminal, civil, and family law cases—all of which come up before the Circuit Court.

He'll likely face other, local candidates for the position…A screening committee will vet the candidates, and make a recommendation to Governor Whitmer who will make the final decision.

YOU GOTTA WONDER what’s going with the hotel industry…Tourism is down by 11% this year in Marquette County (through April), and there really hasn’t been a big surge in the last year or two…And yet, we now have plans for four new hotels and expansion of a fifth…They include the casino hotel, the hotel where land is now being cleared near Tadych’s, the Vault downtown, the newly acquired property across from the Fairfield Inn, and also Fairfield’s planned expansion…

So, what gives? “It’s complicated,” says Susan Estler, the CEO of Travel Marquette, “but I’m sure the hotels are doing their market research.”…She points out that in the last ten years, Marquette County has added only 342 hotel rooms, for a total of 1570…In the next 3-4 years, we’ll be adding another 426…Will those added rooms force room rates down? Will they increase the vacancy rates in the current hotels?...And most important, will they continue to change the overall atmosphere of Marquette?

THE BEACHES ALONG Lake Superior seem a bit narrower this June. That’s because the Lake is up—an increase in lake level of 5 inches over last June, and 9 inches above the longterm average for June…And it’s expected to continue—another 1-2 inch increase in lake level over the next month.

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT CONTINUES to decline…Nationwide, the figure is a half percent drop in the last year, but in Michigan, it’s more than a 2% decline. That’s one of the worst figures in the nation…And NMU? Well, the numbers tell the story: in 2013-4, total enrollment was 8918…by 2016, it had dropped to 7685…in 2020-21, it was 7368…and last year, 2022-23, the total enrollment had plummeted to 6970…Whoa…Declining birth rates and high school graduation rates are certainly major causes, along with inflation…but NMU’s new president, Brock Tessman, will be called upon to come up with new strategies to at least stabilize enrollment at the ever-shrinking NMU.

MAYBE IT’S TIME to reconsider teaching as a profession. A Detroit charter school, the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences, is offering $100,000 salaries to highly effective teachers with at least five years of experience in teaching…This, according to Bridge Michigan…They’re expecting to hire 18 teachers at the $100,000 level for the 2023-24 school year, on three-year contracts.

Maybe some of that money can trickle up to the underpaid teachers in the Upper Peninsula.

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