Monday, November 1, 2004 - MiBizWest

By Karen Gentry
MiBiz Network

MUSKEGON - Thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Fifth Street in Muskegon ill be re-paved and a new streetscape and walking path will be put in place. The street is a critical artery because it links the North Nelson neighborhood to downtown Muskegon.

The Neighborhood Investment Corp. will coordinate the grant administered through the state of Michigan. The grant was awarded as part of the state's Neighborhood of Choice program, one of just three grants awarded in that program. The North Nelson neighborhood covers 25 square blocks from Third and Eighth streets and Western and Monroe avenues. The grant will be used to repave a five-block section of Fifth Street between Western and Monroe avenues.

Some of the grant monies will also be used for the creation of Hackley Heritage Trail - a one-foot wide walking trail of scored concrete. It winds its way from the Union Depot to an alley by Webster and Clay, connecting the Monet Garden replica and Hackley Park and more new gardens. Cathy Brubaker-Clarke, director of community and economic development for the city of Muskegon said work on the Fifth Street area is slated to begin in spring.

The plan also calls for putting in lights, benches, bike racks, trees and landscaping, and expansion of a park, according to Jessica Elsey, the new revitalization manager for NIC.

The sprucing up of the Fifth Street area is all a part of a plan to make the neighborhood walkable and livable, while at the same time improving access to downtown Muskegon’s amenities such as restaurants, the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts and Muskegon Lake. She said that downtown business owners should benefit as the eighborhood becomes a more desirable place to live and the population increases.

Elsey, a 2001 graduate of Central Michigan University, worked for NIC through an Americorps position and for the Muskegon Convention & Visitors Bureau.

In her new position, Elsey will work with residents in an effort to boost the historic neighborhood's image. She is charged with marketing the neighborhood to real estate agents, facilitating grants for exterior rehabilitation of homes, creating a neighborhood identity including a new name for the neighborhood, creation of a "Downtown Living" newsletter, media campaigns and neighborhood activities to boost pride.

"We want a neighborhood to ultimately appeal to urban people," Elsey told MiBiz.

NIC hopes to attract young families, singles and couples who want to live in the historic neighborhood of homes built primarily from 1890-1910. "They're really undervalued," Elsey said of the housing stock.

Currently 40 percent of houses in the North Nelson neighborhood are owner-occupied but the Neighborhood Investment Corporation would like to increase that number. The goal for 2005 is to change five rental homes to owner-occupied, 10 home conversions in 2006 and 10 homes in 2007, said NIC Executive Director Jane Clingman-Scott.

NIC also owns property on Fifth and Monroe that was formerly a church. NIC plans to build two spec houses on the roperty replicating the style and scope of the housing stock already there, Clingman-Scott said. She said the homes will be three and four bedroom, two-story homes at a selling price of approximately $100,000. That St. Joe's property alone represents a $1.5 million investment, according to Clingman-Scott.

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This article appeared in the November 1, 2004 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.