Noah Johnson Daily Press The site of the former Super One Foods is shown at 501 North Lincoln Road. The development of a Kwik Trip, a convenience store and gas station, is being proposed on the site .

ESCANABA — Two different vacant sites in Escanaba could be home to a hotel, condominiums, apartments and a convenience store.

The City of Escanaba Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (CERBA) met on Tuesday to set public hearings on two vacant properties; one site located at 111 North 3rd Street and another at 501 North Lincoln Road.

The former, located behind city hall, served as the county jail until 2019 while the latter was the location of a Super One Foods grocery store until 2017.

Both properties were determined to be blighted by the City of Escanaba due to permanently disconnected utilities and functionally obsolete by the Delta County Equalization Director.

The plans for the site at 111 North 3rd Street contains multiple components: the development of a hotel where the Delta County jail used to be; the development of residential and mixed-use buildings on the former Escanaba Chamber of Commerce site; and public infrastructure that benefits the Brownfield projects.

The project covers six parcels of land including: 310 Ludington Street, 111 North 3rd Street, North 4th Street, North 3rd Street, 230 Ludington Street and 200 Ludington Street.

The Delta County Land Bank Authority received a $498,890 Blight Elimination Grant from the State Land Bank Authority for the demolition of the former jail. The Brownfield Authority received $700,000 from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) for environmental response activities. The project is broken down into three different aspects, as multiple organizations are working on the site.

Terrace Bay Escanaba, LLC is proposing a four-story, 49,000 square foot Hampton Inn hotel with 80 rooms placed where the old jail is.

Swanee, Inc., a company based in Escanaba, is proposing two buildings; one residential and the other a combination of residential and commercial. The first residential would be a condominium development that includes 20 units with a 36-space underground parking lot. The second structure would be a mixed use commercial and residential development that includes 4,200 square feet of commercial space and 48 residential units. The development will also include underground parking facility with 84 parking spaces.

As for public infrastructure, the county relocated the boilers and compressors that served both the jail and the courthouse. Should it need to, the city will upgrade storm sewers, water mains, electrical services and the sanitary sewer.

The plans for the site at 501 North Lincoln Road is to terminate the previous plan by the governing body, city council at its July 18 meeting and reintroduce a new plan.

The redevelopment of the site includes the removal of the Super One structure for a development of a Kwik Trip, a convenience store and gas station. The previous plan involved the placement of a hotel, but that has since been scrapped by the hotel company. The addition of Kwik Trip to the area is expected to bring 35 to 50 jobs to the area as it is a larger gas station.

CERBA Member Richard Clark was not convinced that the gas station would fit in with the community and wanted to know, besides the creation of jobs, what benefits could the community reap from the project. City Manager James McNeil said the company chose Escanaba because they must of found a need for it.

“They wouldn’t be coming here if there wasn’t some sort of need that they identified,” McNeil said.

He added that he has worked with a company in the past that does site selection and told him that different large retailers or restaurants will follow each other.

The board ultimately decided to approve and schedule the public hearings for both projects on July 23 at 3 p.m., where more details and information about both projects will be shared.