MARQUETTE, MI— The Marquette City Commission unanimously passed a motion Monday night to approve a Brownfield Redevelopment Plan for the old Marquette General Hospital property.
The plan will pay for lead and asbestos abatement, demolition, site preparation, the reconstruction of College Avenue and other activities. But much of the public comment portions of the meeting was taken up by residents talking about the absence of affordable housing in the city and the lack of a guarantee that what’s built on the site will offer it.
Mayor Jenna Smith said she doesn’t want the site to become blighted.
“If we don’t act tonight and vote in this plan, that building I don’t think will come down for 10, 20 years, if that, ever. And I can’t drive by that every day with my kids growing up in this community, knowing that could be a neighborhood. And as much as that may not solve the answer to the question that we keep asking, I can’t have it be a blighted building.”
The Marquette Brownfield Redevelopment Authority approved the plan at its May 19th meeting. The total brownfield TIF capture is estimated at $44.6 million over a capture period of 15 to 17 years.
Officials estimate that at the end of the capture period, the property will produce $4.4 million per year in tax revenue.
