HyettPalma
703-683-5126
info@hyettpalma.com

Featured Project:
Downtown Ishpeming, MI

The Downtown Ishpeming Economic Enhancement Strategy was completed by HyettPalma. Situated in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the City of Ishpeming and the surrounding area are truly an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise. Home of the US National Ski Hall of Fame, Ishpeming is rich in destinations, local heritage, entrepreneurs, and City Hall support of Downtown.

Highlights
To ensure that the economic enhancement strategy for Downtown Ishpeming was implementation-oriented, HyettPalma developed a set of Guiding Principles and recommended specific Additional Anchors for Downtown Ishpeming.

The Guiding Principles were specifically designed so that the community could take advantage of Downtown’s considerable assets and successfully implement the Downtown enhancement strategy. The Additional Anchors were recommended to enable Downtown to attract additional consumers and users — and, move Downtown on to a brighter future.

Today, Ishpeming’s private and public sectors are using the Guiding Principles to aggressively implement their Downtown enhancement effort. And, Ishpeming is well on its way to creating the recommended Additional Anchors in Downtown.

Several of the Guiding Principles — and a sampling of the recommended Additional Anchors — are shown below.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The following principles should be used to guide and shape Ishpeming’s overall Downtown enhancement effort.

Positive Attitudes
Those in Downtown and involved in Downtown — particularly Downtown’s business owners and property owners — must adopt and display a positive attitude. While many Downtown business and property owners are positive, there are those who choose to dwell on the negative. Ideally, those who are dwelling on the negative will switch over to an attitude that says “yes, Downtown’s future is bright and together we can make it happen.” However, if the naysayers are not willing or able to change their attitudes, then the positive members of the Downtown family should charge “full speed ahead” — meaning they should continue with their positive attitude, implement the enhancement strategy, and not allow the negative forces to act as impediments to Downtown’s success.

Be Different
It must be realized that Downtown’s road to success lies in being different — and remaining different — from commercial development along the highway. Commercial developments along Highway 41 are very important to the City’s tax base and to serving area residents. However, commercial venues along a highway typically offer a different type of shopping experience than is offered in a Downtown and vice versa. This is positive. If each type of shopping area — Downtown and the highway — serves a distinct purpose, then they can coexist and complement each other rather than compete. Therefore, Downtown should not try to emulate the highway’s commercial development but should continue to be unique in terms of its physical ambiance, specialty businesses, and customer service.

Dual Markets
Downtown’s business owners should not “put all their eggs in one basket” by banking on only the visitor market or only local residents for their profitability. Instead, Downtown businesses should aim at serving the dual market of both locals and visitors. Doing so will ensure that Downtown Ishpeming has the greatest chance of being filled with businesses that succeed on a year-round basis.

Self-Image
Downtown business owners, Downtown property owners, and City residents as a whole should use the Downtown enhancement effort as a way of enhancing their self-image. Through the enhancement effort, Downtown should be recreated to send the following message to residents: “Downtown is a place of great pride and it is the symbol of Ishpeming — a choice place to live.”

As Downtown Goes…
In every community, Downtown’s health — or lack of health — is a symbol of that community’s quality-of-life. For that reason, the truth of the following adage has been widely recognized:

As Downtown goes,
so goes the entire
community of Ishpeming.

Therefore, Ishpeming’s public and private sector leaders cannot afford not to make Downtown’s enhancement a top priority of the entire community.

ADDITIONAL ANCHORS AND ATTRACTIONS
Downtown Ishpeming is fortunate to have many assets and opportunities in place. Furthermore, the potential exists to create additional anchors that will attract additional consumers to Downtown. These are listed below and should be created as part of the Downtown enhancement strategy.

• The Mather Inn
  The Mather Inn — as one of Downtown Ishpeming’s most noteworthy, referenced, and significant historic structures — should be recreated as a major Downtown destination once again. The community simply cannot allow one single owner to keep a building, that is so important in the minds of community residents, out of productive use.
  
  As a first line of approach — private and public sector leaders should contact and sit down with the current owner to encourage the immediate renovation of the building or to encourage the owner to sell the building to a more motivated owner who will renovate the building in a timely manner. The owner should also be encouraged to act upon reasonable offers.
  
  If the current owner cannot be motivated to act, and if another motivated owner is not identified within the immediate future, the City of Ishpeming should seriously consider acquiring the property for the placement of City Hall on the first floor of the building, with the remaining upper floors offered to a qualified developer or developers for the creation of housing. Developers might be sought through the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP). Housing units could be either rental or owner occupied, and perhaps sold as condominiums.
• Old City Hall
  If City Hall is relocated, the old City Hall building should be marketed for the development of offices, housing or a mixture of both — as has been previously considered. Since the old City Hall building is also a very significant historic structure, any future owner should be required to preserve the historic value of the building by undertaking renovations consistent with professionally recognized, contemporary historic preservation standards. This should be a requirement imposed as a condition of building transfer.
• The “Big U” Becomes the “Big O”
  Consideration should be given to expanding the “Big U” to create a circular walk/jog/bike path which connects Downtown with the Country Village area of Ishpeming. The new portion of the circle could potentially be developed adjacent to the access road located behind Country Village — the extension of Lake Shore Drive north of Highway 41 — to connect with the existing walkway south of Highway 41, and extended in this general area further east and south to connect with Third Street at Highway 41.
  
  Connecting the two areas would enable greater sharing of patrons between the two commercial districts. And, if developed, the new walk/jog/bike path should be marketed as the pedestrian connector between the two commercial districts. For example, a logo could be developed for the “Big O,” with t-shirts designed and marketed which read “I Did the Big O.”
• Cliffs Shaft Mine Project
  The maximum level of support should be given to the Cliffs Shaft Mine project. The project will not only result in the creation of a significant new attraction for the community, but will also ensure the preservation of the headframes, which are extraordinarily unique, and, therefore, very valuable to Ishpeming’s residents as part of their unique identity and to the City’s ability to attract visitors.
  
  Consideration should also be given within the immediate future to the exterior lighting of the headframes. This would result in the creation of a very unique night feature for Downtown Ishpeming — of particular importance during winter months.
• Historical Museum
  Given the City’s rich local history — and the pride residents show in that history — it is surprising that Ishpeming does not have a local Historical Society or Historical Museum at this time. It is strongly suggested that first, an Ishpeming Historical Society be formed. And, second, it is suggested that the Historical Society take steps immediately to create an Ishpeming Historical Museum. Ideally, the museum should be opened as a part of the Cliffs Shaft Mine project, be open on a regular schedule of hours (even if it is not possible to keep open to the public on a full-time basis), and be aggressively marketed to area visitors.
  
  If it is not possible to incorporate the museum into the Cliffs Shaft Mine project, then it should be located in the Northside/East Entrance District as another of that area’s destinations.