ESCANABA – Two vacant Escanaba properties are closer to being redeveloped.

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

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.

CERBA unanimously voted to recommend approval of the new resolutions as well as the termination of an old one to the Escanaba City Council, which will make the final decision at its meeting on Aug.1.

Before the board could recommend the Brownfield plan for 501 North Lincoln Road, it first had to recommend termination of the old plan, originally approved by the city in March of 2020.

The previous plan involved the placement of a hotel, but that has since been scrapped by the hotel company. Board Member Matt Sviland motioned for approval with Vice-Chairperson Charles Vader seconding the motion. It went on to pass by a unanimous vote.

The plans for the site at 501 North Lincoln Road now involves the development of a gas station.

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 that currently has 887 locations across the Midwest.

Kwik Trip Vice President of Real Estate, Scott Teigen attended the meeting and provided more details on the project.

“The store is state-of-the-art,” he said.

“It’s nearly a 10,000 square foot store. We got two car washes, 10, maybe 12 gas pumps set up in the area. We don’t intend to service diesel trucks here, so we don’t have any side diesel like we do at a lot of our locations. (It would) be just too difficult to get trucks in and out of here.”

In addition to bringing the property back to life, Teigen said that store should bring 40 to 50 jobs to the area, both full-time and part-time positions.

“The unique thing about Kwik Trip is we share this 40% of our of our pre-tax profits with our co-workers and last year that equated to about 11% cash bonus to the co-worker based on their W2 total,” he said.

“So, that’s on top of a very fair wage and excellent, excellent healthcare and other benefits.”

He also provided background on the company, saying Kwik Trip is the most vertically integrated convenience store chain in the United States. He explained that the company has its own dairy plant as well as its own bakery. The store also makes its own pizza and sandwiches.

“If there’s a way to take the middleman out of the process, that’s what we try to do so we can provide a better value to the customers,” Teigen said.

Chairperson Thomas Warstler raised a concern about leakage, asking if in 30 years the site will be another Brownfield site because of the potential contamination. Teigen explained that leaks should not be a problem and if they are, the company will know right away.

He said that the company uses a double wall tank system that has a monitor to alert the company if there is a leak.

“If we have a leak, we’ll know almost instantaneously,” Teigen said.

He added that in his career, a lot of contamination occurs when customers spill fuel as they pump it into their vehicle.

Teigen added that the building process is typically a six-month process and hopes the facility will be up and running in 2026.

The board ultimately passed the resolution by a unanimous vote.

The plans at 111 North 3rd Street involve the development of multiple properties involving a hotel as well as condominiums.

The hotel project is headed up by Terrace Bay Escanaba LLC, who plan to develop a a four-story, 80 room Hampton Inn Hotel. The structure is expected to be 49,000 square feet.

“The plan is to start demolition this fall,” Owner of Terrace Bay, Jarred Drown said.

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.

Like the hotel development timeline, Swanee Inc., hopes to start demolition this fall.

The development by Swanee will be appropriately named, Northshore Flats.

Board Member Richard Clark motioned for approval with Vader seconding the motion. It went on to pass by a unanimous vote with Board Member Sviland abstaining as he and his wife, Beth, are the owners of Swanee Inc.

Brownfield Consultant Mac McClelland, who has been instrumental in the processes for both projects, said he is excited about the developments coming to the area.

“This has been a long time coming for the 3rd Street project and the Super One project as well. (The) properties been vacant for some time, (so it’s) an incredible opportunity to get some investment going (and) to help some public infrastructure be installed as well. So, an incredible opportunity, I’m very excited about it,” McClelland said.

Many residents have wondered why both properties have taken years to develop, or start developing for that matter. McClelland explained that projects like these are not so simple.

“It really is so complex to look at all of the issues in a site,” he said. He added that the process involves environmental issues, time for demolition as well as finding the right developers for the sites.

“I mean there was a developer that came in before that didn’t work out and then local folks have come in (and) stepped up to the plate. So they were willing to deal with this, invest the time and resources because they care about the community and (will) work through all of those details,” McClelland said.

The Escanaba City Council will make its decision on both of the properties at its meeting on Aug.1.