An artist rendition of a hotel at the former Delta County Correctional Facility site

ESCANABA — A proposal to develop a hotel at the site of the former Delta County Correctional Facility and other nearby parcels took a step forward Wednesday. In a joint meeting, both the Delta County Board of Commissioners and the Escanaba City Council unanimously approved Proxima Management Group’s proposal for the land on a conceptual level and agreed to move ahead with efforts to finalize a contract for the project.

Early in the meeting, outgoing Delta County Administrator Philip Strom spoke about the history of efforts to develop this property, which he said effectively began with Escanaba’s certification as a Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Redevelopment Ready Community in 2014. This continued with the approval of a millage supporting the creation of a new Delta County Correctional Facility by voters in 2016 and subsequent talks between the county and city.

“It’s a complicated land ownership situation, with the State of Michigan being involved with the bottomlands, but — because of the MEDC Redevelopment Ready Community status — the City of Escanaba became eligible for grant funding,” Strom said.

On March 18, 2019, an event took place at the Bonifas Arts Center to talk about a request for qualifications (RFQ) for the correctional facility site with interested developers. Strom said representatives of about nine developers were in attendance at the event; however, none decided to pursue this opportunity before the RFQ’s deadline.

A week before the deadline, Proxima expressed its interest.

“Their proposal fit like a glove in our RFQ,” Strom said.

Under Proxima’s proposal, it would purchase the portions of the correctional facility site owned by the city and county, the old Delta County Chamber of Commerce building, and a parcel directly to the east of the Chamber building.

A four-story, 80-90 room, upscale or upper mid-scale hotel and retail spaces would be built on the land. The project’s current estimated cost is about $18.3 million. (For more information on Proxima’s proposal, see related article.)

Strom noted the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting does not mean the project has been finalized.

“This is really crossing the starting line, hopefully, of a long-term successful relationship with this development team,” he said.

Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan shared a video detailing the city’s master plan, which he said Proxima’s proposal fit into well. He then introduced James McNeil, Escanaba’s city assessor.

“A project like this is the healthy injection to the tax base that a community like ours really could use, and could potentially build momentum into that district,” McNeil said.

According to Escanaba Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Ed Legault, the need to develop Escanaba’s lakefront has been apparent for quite some time.

“Before I’ve been the DDA director for seven years — before I came there, there were many studies. Every study reverts back to ‘we have to do something with the lakefront,'” he said.

TJ Thomas, executive director of the Delta County Economic Development Alliance, said the project will help connect Ludington Park and downtown Escanaba.

“Much more than just activating this piece of waterfront development, this links our entire community,” Thomas said.

Daniel Leonard, of the MEDC Community Assistance Team, said the project will serve as an example for development projects elsewhere in the state.

“We love telling stories at the MEDC,” he said.

Later, Justin Hutton of Hutton & Hutton Architects & Engineers and Ravi Patel of Proxima delivered a presentation detailing their histories and plans for the project. Hutton referenced the slogan “Live, Play, Shop & Dine,” which is displayed on signage welcoming people to downtown Escanaba.

“We want to support that and enhance that experience with this project,” he said.

Patel said the project is expected to make use of local resources.

“We would — where possible, obviously — source local trades; where possible, source local materials to develop this hotel,” he said.

Some attendees of the meeting brought up potential issues related to the project. One item of concern was a clause in a proposed contract between the City of Escanaba, Delta County and Proxima that would prevent the development of new, competing hotels or motels within an eight-mile radius of the project for a period of three years — with some exemptions, including currently-operating hotels and motels; the House of Ludington; lodging business projects currently in negotiations for development, construction or operation; and expansions to current hotels and motels — after Proxima is issued a Phase I Certificate of Completion.

This issue was also discussed during a meeting of the Escanaba Planning Commission Wednesday.

“The planning commission, as a commission, agreed that that moratorium section should not be in (the) contract,” Paul Caswell — a member of the planning commission — said.

In response, Strom said the legality of such clauses has not been fully settled on the state level. He also noted the development agreement has been carefully reviewed and is still subject to change.

“This agreement has been fully vetted by attorneys, believe me. There’s probably been too many attorneys at the table, and I’m one of them, so I can say that,” he said.

Additionally, a map included in Hutton and Patel’s presentation depicted development at Escanaba’s municipal dock. After the meeting, Jordan said the map was conceptual in nature and Proxima was not asked to prepare plans including the municipal dock.

“That was never part of the discussion,” he said.

Ralph Blasier, a member of the Escanaba City Council, was confident this space will not be included in the final project.

“The municipal dock won’t be part of it in my lifetime, probably,” he said after the meeting.

Shortly before the county board and city council voted, Delta County Commissioner David Rivard said he was pleased to see progress being made on Escanaba’s waterfront.

“I think this is a great opportunity for us to finally get that ball rolling,” he said.

Escanaba City Council Member Peggy O’Connell felt similarly about the project.

“It’s part of the reason I ran for city council a year and a half ago … I wanted to see something like this started,” she said.