You know a place is struggling when the headline for a new jail is spun favorably as job creation. And then to top it all off we get this quote from the sheriff:
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Meh. |
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I consider Saginaw to be my true hometown even though I left as just a baby, on fam trips up north we would sometimes stop & stay over with family friends. I kinda loved how houses in our neighborhood had upstairs kitchens despite the logistics of it ... Saginaw has always been a bit off though as compared to other cities in the state. Saginaw at least until the mid to late 80s was the only manufacturing town in the state that was still hiring so to speak only to see the same pattern that took place in Detroit & Flint occur just a few years later. A possible reason for this is that just like many other cities in the Great Lakes region it "specialized" in a particular aspect of the auto industry in Saginaw's case the city housed a big piece of GM's auto-supply industry however these companies tended to be more successful in diversification. The company my dad worked for in Saginaw when my family lived there around the time I was born was doing work for NASA specifically related to the huge fuel mixing machines ... After the challenger disaster however the company ran into problems which was a major reason he made the decision to came back here and work for Ford again. I've had some articles in the back of my mind for a while on the Tri-Cities but I was up north in a very rustic area when I discovered this thread. This one is a general booster article about downtown developments but it's good to see the same tactics used in Detroit & Flint working their way up I-75 none the less. Quote:
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I think about when GM had three plants in Saginaw with all three shifts decades ago...the line workers, foremans, plant mangers, process managers, executives and then of course the several dozens of suppliers. You had tons of mid to high paying jobs that justified new construction and all the ancillary services like retail and healthcare. With much of that a fraction of what it was, it’s all about replacing what you have when the money is there. |
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I'm not thrilled that the biggest construction project ramping up in Saginaw right now is a new jail. The construction jobs that are 'celebrated' are short-term, and provide only temporary benefits. I don't know enough about the prison situation in the county to comment intelligently on what need there is for a new jail. It sounds like the current one is quite outdated / old. And I know many cities / counties now generate money by essentially renting out their cells to other jurisdictions. Not sure if that is part of the plan here to make the numbers work. That Sheriff's quote was not very eloquent! |
Haha right you are I skimmed through the first post or two of the reboot but ended up getting sidetracked by the construction pics.
As to a jail being promoted as job creation I understand that infrastructure projects along with a private sector push can help reinvigorate an economy but I do get a laugh out of the jail being singled out as a jobs project as opposed to part of a larger push that has been slowly but steadily improving Downtown Saginaw over the past decade or so. |
Groundbreaking ceremony happened last week for the new 3-story Fairfield Inn at 503 E Buttles Street, downtown Midland, near the Dow Diamond and Dow East End Building.
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Site Plan https://vgrvea.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: NBC25 News | Courtesy Midland Planning Commission Ellsworth place, a 3-story, mixed-use development, and 1st State Bank, a 2-story branch bank building, are also both going up about 3 blocks away. I'm trying to find progress photos of both. It's neat to see this stretch along Buttles and Ellsworth slowly densify. Here's a rendering of Ellsworth Place - at 201, 205 and 211 E. Ellsworth St. - offices and garages on first floor, eight condo apartments above. https://vwrvea.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: Midland Daily News |
I almost lost my breath seeing that site plan until you told me the parking was in the back. lol
Anyway, I kind of wonder what the height limit is for new commercial buildings in downtown Midland? Everything seems to be limited to two or three stories, it seems, and I wonder if it's by design or if it's just mostly market forces in a small city? |
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Zone D (Downtown District) has a maximum height of 76 feet (per Article 26 - Schedule of Regulations). That's the tallest that I see. Zone DNO (Downtown Northside Overlay District) has a 2 story minimum, 76 foot maximum. And if it is zoned PUD (Planned Unit Development-Overlay District) the maximum height determined by that zone may be exceeded, provided certain conditions are met. My guess is that mostly market forces are driving the height (or lack thereof) right now. While it would be great to see a few projects in the 5 - 6 story range downtown, if they can keep getting positive infill at 2 - 3 stories I'm content. |
Yeah, I'm not advocating any high-rises or anything, but was just curious why we aren't seeing stuff in the five-story range. Generally, even a a smaller city like Midland, I think you really need to go above two stories in the core downtown area. Otherwise, second-floors are really neighborhood scaled stuff and you're wasting land. The hotel and mixed-use building in that range, just at the lower scale of it.
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I'm a little bit behind, but the new Saginaw marketplace opened a few weeks ago in the former Saginaw News building. It looks pretty cool, and I wish it well.
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https://gntanq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none https://ddtanq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: MLive | Nate Manley Also some soft-opening photos, from June 20 - https://f9tanq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none https://gttanq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: MLive | Jacob Hamilton |
Some other Saginaw news -
Saginaw continues its push to demolish blighted structures in the city. Since 2006, there has been an estimated 4,000 - 5,000 property demolitions. City officials figure there are 500 - 600 left to go. Quote:
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https://fdqlkq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: MLive | Henry Taylor |
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This popped up on MLive today. A new mixed-use development led by North Peak Brewing Co., referred to as Water Street Lofts, may be starting construction this fall in downtown Bay City. :tup:
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https://e9qlkq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none https://fnqlkq.dm.files.1drv.com/y4m...&cropmode=none Source: MLive |
I was in Saginaw for the first time in about a year last weekend. I kept thinking about that "cities by the bay: Saginaw, Bay City back from the brink as downtowns rebound" article that Crain's put out. Downtown Bay City has been a pleasant area, but downtown Saginaw, as many of you know, has not. I'm not really sure if the author of that article has been to Saginaw lately or not, but it doesn't seem so. The vast majority of downtown is still entirely abandoned or empty lots. In fact, it appeared worse than it did last time I was there. There's been a lot of demolitions replaced with grass lots and many of the ground floor level businesses are gone. It's sad because downtown has a huge amount of potential. I wish I could post here and verify that downtown really is "back from the brink", but I really do not believe it is even anywhere near a turning point.
Regardless, here's a few of the projects I photographed https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1852/...0c9d5585_h.jpg Delta College Saginaw Center, downtown https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1897/...44db921c_h.jpg Riverview Brownstones on Hamilton, Old Town https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1845/...a83e69c4_h.jpg The mixed use building at Riverview Brownstones on Hamilton. Retail on the ground floor and residential above. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1895/...a3d33dd8_h.jpg Saginaw County Adult Detention Center, which broke ground in May in Old Town. |
Thanks for the photos that highlight some of the good development happening in Saginaw. I was talking with a few guys that live there today, and they would probably agree with your conclusion that Saginaw has not seen the same degree of resurgence that most other major cities in the state are experiencing. One thing is for sure from your 3rd photo - they just don't do masonry detailing work like they used too!
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Oh, they do, you just have to pay for. But that's not really masonry you're seeing in that photo, either, if you ask me. There's a big project in downtown East Lansing where you've got individually applied bricks, for instance.
Bad brick veneer drives me crazy...but then again, it's about five times better than the cheap vinyl siding which is typical on extremely value-engineered housing developments. |
Saginaw officials vote to save 144-year-old mansion
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DowDuPont to turn Midland site into industrial park
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Dow Michigan Operations Park visitor entrance rendering. Inspired by the designs of Midland architect Alden B. Dow. |
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There’s still places like Chicago that encourage heavy load bearing masonry because of rigid code requirements. Contractors are still using old practices of false work to support arches and create elaborate inlays and patterns, but it’s all incidental. I’m surprised I got charged nothing extra from contractors to rebuild corbels and the entablature on my building despite that they could’ve done a boring running bond all the way to the top of the wall. The contractors were just that skilled and fast that fancy masonry work was affordable. It’s likely more difficult in small markets in Michigan were this type of work is limited, meaning less available tradesman. |
This is a few weeks old now...
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