An update on the planned rehabilitation project for the former 30-acre Vicksburg / Lee Paper Mill Site. It sounds like a lot of the projected $50 million needed for the work might come from public (local, state, and federal) sources. Possible public funding sources cited by the developer in the article include, "the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Michigan Land Bank... the Vicksburg Brownfield Authority's Local Brownfield Remediation Fund...[and]...a 20 percent federal tax credit as part of the National Register of Historic Places..."
The ambitious project is intended to include a craft beer and food production facility, a new brewery / restaurant, beer garden, event spaces, retail and office space, artists space, 42 apartments, a museum, and outdoor trails.
The potential for positive economic and environmental impacts that this mixed-use project will bring to the area are large, and I think it is a project with a solid plan, led by a committed developer with a personal connection to the village and to the property (having been a former employee at the mill). It just sounds like it is dependent on a lot of "ifs" and taxpayer dollars. I remain hopeful that it succeeds.
Quote:
$50M mixed-use development planned for shuttered paper mill
By Tom Haroldson | MLive
September 03, 2017
VICKSBURG, MI - The sprawling brick-and-steel complex on Highway Street known as the former Vicksburg paper mill got a visit from about 50 local, state and federal officials and village residents keen on seeing what it could become in the future. Chris Moore, owner of Paper City Development LLC and Old Stove Brewery in Seattle, led the tour Monday, Aug. 28 of what is now called The Mill, a proposed $50 million project that if successful will turn the hulking, dilapidated series of buildings into a regional draw and once again the village's largest employer. Leading the group through the maze of old paper plant buildings that have seen a better day, Moore said that if funding from a variety of sources comes through the first construction could begin next spring.
"We think the puzzle is pretty well solved now," Moore said, flanked by Congressman Fred Upton and project manager Jackie Koney as he explained his vision that began in 2014. "It's a $50 million project that will take a few players to carry out."
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Image Source:
Emily Monacelli | MLive