Muskegon's rebirth rests mainly on its people

August 26, 2007
Author: Paul Keep

The summer of 2007 has been one focused on the state of the economy in our county, Michigan and beyond.

Things sure aren't as good as we'd like them to be.

On the national level, there are woes in the mortgage lending industry and the Federal Reserve has taken steps to keep the system functioning.

In our state, we've been worrying for decades about the number of good-paying jobs we've lost as the Big 3 automakers and other employers try to stay competitive in an expanding global marketplace.

In Muskegon County, we have an unemployment rate higher than the state and nation.

Given all these lemons, it is time to do the best we can to make lemonade. And I'm seeing plenty of signs of that happening.

Last Wednesday's USA Today newspaper included a feature article on Muskegon's downtown and efforts to rebuild it after the demolition of the Muskegon Mall and the loss of several downtown factories.

The article focused on how government incentives can be used to spur redevelopment of cities that are hurting.

But also mentioned to this national audience was the key reason I'm optimistic about Muskegon's rebirth: Its people.

After itemizing our challenges, the article said: "Muskegon also has a core of local officials and business people who have refused to give up."

Those are the magic words: Refused to give up.

We want our city center and county to improve and many in this community are actively working toward that goal. Is progress being made fast enough to satisfy everyone? Probably not, but this kind of work requires patience.

Our area's natural beauty -- particularly its lakes -- were also mentioned as positives as we move forward.

A quote from Sarah Rooks, project manager for the WaterMark Center, the former Shaw-Walker plant being turned into condominiums, sums up the brighter side of our current situation: "We've got a clean slate torebuild our town however we want."
That is an empowering statement.

Especially when it is backed up by new money coming into our community from investors who have confidence in our future.

The article said the WaterMark's owner, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., has invested $12 million in the project so far and received $1.5 million in government aid. That's still a bunch of his own money his is just one example of many.

More encouraging news about the economy came from a respected economist brought to Muskegon to speak recently by Comerica Bank -- Dana Johnson, the bank's chief economist in Michigan.

His view is that, at the national level, the economy is rebalancing itself and re-accelerating itself and he is not expecting we'll go into a recession.

Since we in Michigan are tied to the national economy, Johnson predicted an upswing there will help us.

His view is that the current contract talks between the automakers and labor unions will be crucial to the future of our state's economy. If the unions work closely with the auto companies to help them compete better on the cost of their vehicles, good things can happen. If the unions take a confrontational approach, things are likely to get worse before they get better.

"It's not a sure thing, but there are good things happening," Johnson said in summing up.

I'm glad we have people locally who are making many of those good things happen here.

Copyright ©2007, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF Michigan city finds hope in tax breaks

August 21, 2007
Author: By Dennis Cauchon

MUSKEGON, Mich. - In economic development, this city's downtown is the emergency room.

Federal, state and local governments have launched an intensive intervention to revive a dying industrial city battered for decades by a changing economy and global competition.

Muskegon's downtown has vacant blocks with parking lots and no buildings. It has abandoned factories riddled with broken windows. It has competition from big-box stores on the outskirts of town.

Muskegon also has a core of local officials and business people who have refused to give up. The city, the Chamber of Commerce and other groups have secured millions of dollars in tax breaks, grants and subsidies that federal, state and local governments have to offer.

"Our city has been aggressive in trying to use every economic-development program available," City Manager Byron Mazade says. "There's almost nothing we haven't sought."

Muskegon is a test case for economic-development incentives. Economists generally dislike tax breaks and subsidies, saying they seldom produce lasting benefits.

"These programs are political development initiatives, not economic development ones," says Michael LaFaive, fiscal policy director at the free-market-oriented Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Mich. "They are expensive ribbon-cutting ceremonies."

He says his research shows that Michigan's big economic-development programs have produced no long-term benefit. In Muskegon, however, letting market forces determine the future of this once-vibrant city is not an acceptable alternative.

Past success faded

Muskegon was a prosperous industrial city for more than a century, producing lumber, furniture, engines and many other goods before a slow decline started in the 1950s.

Today, the population is 39,825, down 1% since 2000. The county unemployment rate is 7.6%, higher than the state (7.2%) and national (4.6%) rates. Michigan has had the nation's worst economy for several years. Muskegon and other industrial towns have been particularly hard-hit.

The city is not without assets. It's on Lake Michigan and has some of the Great Lakes' finest beaches. Just inland, 7-mile-long Muskegon Lake adds to the city's beauty.

Muskegon's shores once were lined by factories. Continental Motors employed more than 10,000 people - mostly in a giant factory overlooking Lake Michigan - producing engines for tanks and aircraft. Today, successor Teledyne Continental Motors employs about 500. The factory has been torn down, the site turned into offices. Muskegon has deployed more than 20 economic-incentive programs to reinvent itself.

It has Smart Zones, Renaissance Zones, Neighborhood Enterprise Zones and Foreign Trade Zones - all offering tax breaks and assistance. It has Site Assessment Grants, Clean Michigan Grants, Facade Improvement Grants, Urban Land Assembly Grants and Employee Training Grants - offering money for environmental, aesthetic or other business needs. The state supplies most of the money, and federal and local programs contribute, too.

Hope for the future

For all its struggles, an optimism pervades the city.

"The only way is up," says Sarah Rooks, project manager of the WaterMarkCenter, a former furniture factory on Muskegon Lake that is being turned into loft condominiums. "We've got a clean slate to rebuild our town however we want."

A Brooklyn developer has invested about $12 million in the 1-million-square-foot factory. Government aid has been about $1.5 million. About 85,000 square feet has been turned into condos that sell for $94,000 to $239,000. The rest of the building is largely vacant.

The WaterMark condos are in a Renaissance Zone. That means residents pay no state or local income taxes and get an 80% break on property taxes.

Muskegon's grandest effort is an attempt to repair a mistake of previous developers. In the 1970s, Muskegon put a roof over its downtown shopping district to create a covered mall. The mall deteriorated into a place of vacant shops and gained a reputation as unsafe.

Now, the city has torn down the mall and is trying to make downtown what it used to be: a retail center for local merchants. The project has received millions in tax dollars.

Only five historic buildings were saved. "Our whole downtown was scraped down to nothing, so we could start over," Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Larsen says.

The state declared Muskegon a "Cool City" and provided a $50,000 grant for a downtown sculpture and the creation of a wireless Internet connection.

The government money has encouraged a few trailblazing entrepreneurs to take a chance.

Developer Gary Post lovingly restored one of the five saved buildings, the Century Club, where the city's elite dined a century ago.

He received grants and tax credits to help restore the 1889 building.

He says he wakes up in the middle of the night wondering if he's done the right thing: "You need these incentives to jump-start a development. There's a lot of risk being first in a project like this."

The Hegg family, which has sold furniture in the area for three generations, opened an upscale furniture store in the restored Century Club building. "It would have been hard to get established without the incentives," Stacie Hegg says.

Vacant lots surround the Heggs' newly opened store. Shoppers on foot are rare.

"How can we take our old economy and turn it into a new economy?" asks Larsen, the chamber president. "We think this is how."

Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Can we talk, and farm?

May 14, 2007
Author: Rod Kackley

MUSKEGON - WaterMark Center & Lofts developers are in discussions with Community Shores Bank to finance the construction of a $1.8 million conference center.

They also are continuing to talk to Muskegon city officials and Muskegon County farmers about the creation of a new Farmers Market.

The WaterMark Center & Lofts is a mixed-use residential center in Muskegon that has been built in the old million-square-foot Shaw Walker factory. It is being developed by ANM Group, based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Phase I is complete and features 53 urban loft condominiums. Still to come is the creation of 5,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The conference center is part of that evolution.

WaterMark Project Manager Sarah Rooks told MiBiz that in addition to settling the financing issues, ANM needs final city approval of the construction plans. Assuming all of the pieces come together, the 11,000-square-foot facility would be built in an area of the Shaw Walker property that was a loading dock.

"It will be very technologically savvy so that we will have the ability to offer Web streaming or satellite conferencing, things that are not offered in Muskegon right now," said Rooks.

She added that the conference center could be ready to open approximately four months after final approval of all the plans.

City of Muskegon Director of Community and Economic Development Cathy Brubaker-Clark told MiBiz that the WaterMark Conference Center is needed to help grow the downtown district.

The conference center is only one of two major projects that are moving forward on or near the WaterMark property near the shores of Muskegon Lake.

Rooks is also trying to win approval for a bigger and better farmers market that would be located on several acres of city property near the intersection of Western Avenue and Division Street.

As with the conference center proposal, Rooks said ANM is waiting for final city commission approval of the plans for the new Muskegon Farmers Market. It is also still in the process of finalizing the financing of the project.

"As developers, we see this as a good demonstration of private money working with public money. This is an opportunity to work hand-in-hand to build something that we will all be proud of," said Rooks.

Brubaker-Clark also likes the public-private partnership aspect of the farmers market proposal.

She said the city would like to move the Muskegon Farmers Market to property that was the Shaw-Walker factory parking lot for several reasons. First, city officials do want a location that is a bit closer to the downtown district. This would accomplish that, with the Edison Landing development on the east side of the property and the WaterMark Center on the west.

"It is also on a site where we do want to be careful about what kind of development is build there," she said. "The market could be a perfect fit because you would not be building up very high. So it would not block the view of Muskegon Lake, and the property could still be used for parking when the market is not open."

Brubaker-Clark also said all involved are looking at the possibility of building an atrium on the property that could be used as a concert venue as well as filling a community-center function.

Copyright ©2007, MiBiz, All rights reserved.

PDF Unwavering urban appeal - High function meets shoreline serenity in a burgeoning West Michigan city.

April 18, 2007
Author: Cynthia Droog

Just seven years ago, at the turn of the decade, a visitor arriving on Muskegon Lake's shores - the side nearest downtown - may have been reminded of an historic relic, not unlike an old steel town where industry had left the city behind.

Today, where the pillar of pizza-eating society in West Michigan - Fricano's - meets the Lakeshore Bike Trail, stands Watermark Lofts, which is helping turn a piece of the past into Muskegon's renaissance future.

The Lofts are housed in the renovated Shaw-Walker Furniture Factory, which once manufactured storage filing cabinets of all sizes, marked by straightforward durability and summed up thusly: Steel. Indestructible. Functional. Never the standout piece in the office, but built simply to blend in.

It's reassuring that the developers of that building today, Brooklyn, New York-based ANM Group, planned a living, shopping and dining development that does the same - simply fits in. Their vision of downtown Muskegon's future included the Lofts as a steady, unwavering center point.

Watermark Lofts offer highly functional living spaces. Everything has been taken into consideration, from the open, spacious kitchens to the onsite fitness center and exceptional shoreline views. The 12-foot ceilings and 8-foot windows give each loft an airy, but not cold, feel. In fact, despite the industrial design - with the factory's original columns and exposed brick - the Lofts are welcoming.

According to Watermarks project manager Sarah Rooks, interest in downtown Muskegon is booming. Having worked in the area for more than 10 years, she believes people of all ages are getting more excited than ever about what Muskegon has to offer.

"Everything you need is right here," said Rooks. "If you love the outdoors, it's parks, lakes and bike trails. If you love sports, the arts, or travel, you are closer to all of it than you would be in any bigger city."

And if you ask any big city dweller, a quick and easy change of scenery is just as important to enjoying the city lifestyle as the deli - or pizza place - next door. For Watermark Loft residents, that's as easy as driving a few miles up the lakeshore, where you can still walk on the beach all by yourself, or hopping the ferry over to Milwaukee.

How did two guys from Brooklyn find Muskegon?

"When they first bought the property in 2002, it was all about the potential," said Rooks. "The owners saw what Muskegon could be and that passionate residents were starting to shape it into their dream city. They wanted to be a part of that."

At the time, Brownfield redevelopment was just gaining momentum in the area, and the one million square feet that made up the Shaw-Walker property was a lot like a newborn. Its genes were already intact: historical significance, location, the fortress of a building that stood. But its future was shapeable, influenced by ingenuity and positive thinking stemming from local developers and contractors who were hired, as well as progressive residents who spearheaded Muskegon's metamorphosis.

In its infancy, Watermark Lofts is still growing. Phase two of the development, which includes more residential space, begins next year; then the property launches into specialty shops, office space, dining and a rental facility for banquets, weddings and parties. Phase three plans are even more alluring, including a possibility that the Muskegon farmer's market will relocate to another part of the property, right across the street.

But for now, the allure of existing lofts at Watermark is characterized by hardwood floors, polished chrome and steel doors, high-end appliances and upscale fixtures. Despite sound-proof walls, floors and ceilings, the building exudes community.

Another part of Watermark's appeal: Renaissance Zone rules apply, so ownership is largely tax-free. What's more, each resident is given creative license to make the condo his or her own. From personal shoe closets, revised walls and French door installations to wet bars and remote-control blinds, each loft reflects a unique personality. And that's quite the eclectic mix, much to Rooks' surprise.

"We'd originally envisioned attracting a young, even first-time buyer because we're so affordable," she said. "What we've found is quite the opposite. Many owners live here during the summers only, and others are just people fascinated by the rejuvenation of their former hometown, and they want to be a part of it. They're volunteering downtown and walking to everything from the Irish Festival to a hockey game.

"We're selling a pretty unique concept - a lakeshore community in the middle of a city."

Copyright ©2007, Cynthia Droog, All rights reserved.

Muskegon's downtown WaterMark Lofts plan to add $1.8M conference center

April 5, 2007
Author: Deborah Johnson Wood

First, ANM Group of Brooklyn, New York, renovated 85,000 square feet of the former Shaw Walker Furniture Factory into urban loft dwellings. Now they're entering Phase II of the five-phase $60 million development: creating an 11,000-square-foot conference and events center.

The $1.8 million events center at WaterMark Center and Lofts, 930 Washington Street in Muskegon, is a loading dock from the bygone furniture factory days. Renovation thus far has brought the facility to white box stage.

Design plans will lead to the city's first center with state-of-the-art high tech capabilities, such as satellite conferencing and web streaming.

"We want to bring Muskegon something it doesn't already have," said Sarah Rooks, project manager. "Our plan is for clients to be able to facilitate international meetings from here."

In addition to meetings and conferences, Rooks expects to use the center for weddings, banquets, and other events. Multiple events can take place simultaneously because of the center's moveable, soundproofed walls that will change the large space to two or three smaller spaces. Amenities will include complete catering and bar services for up to 500 people, and a large porch for dining and relaxing.

Early 2008 is the projected completion date. However, Rooks said she is already receiving reservation requests.

"We can't build it fast enough," she said.

Last year, WaterMark finished Phase I of its proposed 1 million square feet of renovation. A portion of the property's thirty-plus buildings is now 53 one-, two-, and three-bedroom condominiums. Prices range from $94,000 to $239,000.

Copyright ©2007, Rapid Growth Media, All rights reserved.

PDF WaterMark pioneers blaze new trail in Muskegon

December 11, 2006 — MiBiz
Author: Rod Kackley

A wave of risk-taking pioneers has changed life in downtown Muskegon. The city's central business district has changed a lot in the past few years. The Muskegon Mall is gone, but new businesses are moving in and new investors are movingin too. That is probably the most important thing. Money is being invested in the city's central business district. The WaterMark Center & Lofts development would seem to be solid evidence of that.

It's a one-million-square-foot risk. Fifty-three residential condominiums have been created as part of the 85,000-square-foot first phase of the project. Sixteen of those units had been sold as MiBiz went to press.

Many of those homes have been purchased as second homes, but several are being used as primary residences.

While the development is very modern and unique, it can also be described as a testament to the heritage of the former Shaw-Walker factory that became WaterMark Lofts. The interior design featuring an industrial theme is evident throughout the project, with gray color schemes and polished chrome and stainless steel.

The doors to the hallways include a swirled galvanized finish. Some ductwork is exposed and there are semi-finished ceilings. The units include tile floors in the kitchen and bathsand upscale appliances. All units also feature high ceilings and eight-foot doors.

Project architect Gary Breen, of Muskegon-based Hooker/DeJong Architects Engineers PC, told MiBiz last year that WaterMark Lofts was a unique, fun and expressive project.

"This is not just another market rate condominium project. It has some uniqueness to it, some excitement," he said. "I would have to say this has been one of the better projects that I have ever worked on."

Breen is heading the redesign of the manufacturing space into loft condominiums and commercial space for developer ANM Group. Muskegon Construction Co. is the general contractor.

Living in the new loft condominiums will be largely tax-free because of WaterMark Lofts' Renaissance Zone status. Residents will pay no local personal property taxes, state personal income tax, local real property tax, 6-mill state education tax or local income taxes. The units must be owner-occupied to get the tax credits.

Another 11,000 square feet will be developed as commercial and retail space in the second phase. Letters of intent are being accepted for the third phase - the development of 55,000-square feet of specialty shops with a public market theme.

"We were one of the first to take that risk. But you have to remember that our owners in New York don't get into anything without doing their homework," said WaterMark

Center & Lofts Project Manager Sarah Rooks. "And this has really become a labor of love for all of us."

WaterMark devel-opers are talking to Muskegon city offi-cials about taking over control of the Farmer's Market and moving it to the marina on the shore of Muskegon Lake. Rooks said that the company is willing to match a $300,000 state grant and would assume responsibility for the Market's management in partnership with city officials.

"It would connect us to Muskegon Lake," said Rooks. "That is important to us because we always say that we are not selling condos, we are selling a lifestyle. This would also allow us to control what goes on across the street from us."

Muskegon Economic Development Director Cathy Brubaker-Clarke told MiBiz that the construction of the WaterMark project has been very important to the downtown revival.

"The folks at WaterMark really took a step forward when things were much more uncertain than they are today," she said. "Because of the success of WaterMark, people are starting to think that developing in Muskegon may not be as risky as it once was."

Rooks believes that downtown Muskegon is "regenerating" because people are rediscovering life in the district. "That includes people from both Muskegon and outside the area. We have gotten a lot of interest from people across the lake in Milwaukee."

Copyright ©2006, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF New downtowners just loving it here!

October 29, 2006 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Pat & Howard Camp (letter to the editor)

We were pleased to welcome hundreds of visitors to our home in the Watermark Lofts during the Harbor Hospice Home tour recently (congratulations, Harbor Hospice of Muskegon!). It was amazing to hear everyone’s reaction to the beauty of the lofts and our condo in the former Shaw-Walker furniture factory ANM Group from Brooklyn, N.Y., has developed. Of course we agree, we live here!

Obviously, we are very proud of our loft and downsized from a four-bedroom home to live there. We received a lot of attention from tourists stepping off the Lake Express Ferry and music lovers walking to Heritage Landing for various festivals and concerts this past summer. We also enjoyed these many downtown events and loved that most are in walking distance of our home.

In talking to several people in the community we realized that individuals who haven’t walked or driven around downtown in some time were rather amazed at the Watermark Development and all the other current happenings in downtown Muskegon.

It is so exciting to watch all of the improvements to downtown Muskegon, such as the building of the new turnaround on Western Avenue, the proposed site for the new farmer’s market next to the Hartshorn Marina, the future site of the Hot Rod Harley and the Hundai dealership just to name a few.

Currently, we enjoy attending Frauenthal events, regular trips to Fricano’s and fishing next to Heritage Landing — many things we didn’t necessarily take advantage of before choosing to live downtown. We have also enjoyed making new friends and lasting relationships with all of the other loft owners from all over the country.

We are proud to support and be a part of all of the new and exciting happenings in our downtown neighborhood. Keep it up, Muskegon!

Pat and Howard Camp, 930 Washington

Copyright ©2006, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF Leaders to see new plan to move farmers market

September 25, 2006 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Robert C. Burns Chronicle staff writer

A vacant parking lot near the Muskegon Lake shoreline has been proposed as a possible new home for the Muskegon Farmers Market.

The proposal comes from the developers of the WaterMark Center & Lofts in the former Shaw-Walker office furniture manufacturing complex. ANM Real Estate Group, of Brooklyn, N.Y., wants to move the market across the street into a vacant, city-owned parking lot adjacent to Hartshorn Marina.

ANM would design, build, manage and promote the new facility, paying the city $1 per year rent for the first five years, then 10 percent of net income thereafter.

ANM President Moses Gross said, in a written proposal to the city, that the plan will benefit both his waterfront development and the market.

Copies of the proposal have been distributed to members of the Muskegon City Commission, who are to take up the matter Tuesday at their 5:30 p.m. meeting at Muskegon City Hall.

They will consider a staff recommendation to start discussions with ANM Real Estate toward a lease and management agreement for relocation of the market to the triangular lot once used by employees of Shaw-Walker Co.

“We’re really just getting the ball rolling at this point,” said Cathy Brubaker-Clarke, the city’s director of community and economic development.

A “very preliminary” site plan by architect Mark Oppenhuizen of Grand Haven was included in the proposal. It shows an entrance and space for 64 cars off Western Avenue, 58 vendor stalls along the lakeward side, and a covered auxiliary/alternative sales area with 20 additional stalls.

The new Lakeshore Trail bike/pedestrian path passes by the site, and Oppenhuizen’s drawing also shows a walkway leading from the trail to the main market concourse.

As proposed, the city would, with state approval, contribute $300,000 from a Michigan Waterways Commission grant being used for improvements to the city’s Hartshorn Marina, which the parking lot is part of. ANM would match that amount in developing the market, paying any additional costs that arise.

After the new market was built and ready to go into operation, the city would by agreement close the existing market on Yuba Street, and designate the new one as the sole “Muskegon Farmers Market.”

In addition to working out an agreement with ANM, the city would have to get permission from the State Waterways Commission to use the $300,000 it has available in marina grant money toward developing the market. She said a case can be made that the new market would make the marina more attractive for boaters and add to annual dock rentals.

Brubaker-Clarke said that with the number of steps that lie ahead, she thought it unlikely the new market could open before 2008.

Another topic likely to come up is parking, and the need for shared parking arrangements. Sixty-four parking spaces would be available at the market site, but customers might be able to use parking lots at nearby Hartshorn Center as well as the WaterMark and on-street parking when the market is at its busiest on Saturdays.

City officials have been looking for a new location for the market for several years, partly to bring more people downtown, and partly because the eastern extension of Shoreline Drive has hindered access to the market. The city also envisions the current market location as a future site for new home construction, some of which has already begun nearby.

Although early talks of moving the market met with resistance from some vendors and market regulars during those discussions, Gross said ANM “will work diligently to ensure that the transition for the current market vendors to the new market will be as seamless as possible.”

City officials had settled on the “Terrace Lots” area sandwiched between Terrace, Western and Shoreline Drive as a new market location, until estimates of development costs proved prohibitive in the short term. The site was removed from consideration earlier this year when the city accepted a development offer that will see the construction of dealerships for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Hyundai automobiles, along with a new city fire station on the site.

Site clearance for those developments is nearly complete, and construction on the new fire station is set to start within days.

Brubaker-Clarke said having the market in private hands would be a plus for the city.

“We don’t need to be managing the market ourselves,” she said. “We make a slight profit but it’s time-consuming. We’d be happy to have it done privately.”

Copyright ©2006, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF Bed, breakfast and beyond - WaterMark lofts making a splash

February 6, 2005 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Dave Alexander; Chronicle Business Editor

From empty nesters in Norton Shores to 20-something couples from Laketon Township, the early consumer reaction to The WaterMark loft condominiums is that it is very un-Muskegon like.

And for most viewing Muskegon’s latest downtown living option, that’s good.

The WaterMark — being developed by the Brooklyn, N.Y.,-based ANM Group in the huge former Shaw-Walker factory building — is the first redevelopment project downtown turning old industrial space into market-rate condominiums. ANM has brought a slice of New York City to the corner of West Western Avenue and Division Street in the city of Muskegon.

An invitation-only preview party last week drew local government and business leaders along with those who have expressed interest in purchasing one of the initial 53 units that should be available for occupancy the first of March. Prices for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units range from $94,000 to $217,000 — but owners receive the tax benefits of the building being in a low-tax Renaissance Zone.

A public open house is slated for Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

“I like the loft-style that is very upscale and modern,” said Angela Clock, a 24-year-old currently living in Laketon Township. “Muskegon needs housing that is targeting young people.”

Clock — an AmeriCorp program volunteer — was touring The WaterMark with 26-year-old Eric Dobery, a computer network administrator for Kaydon Corp. in Muskegon.

“This type of housing would definitely keep us here,” Dobery said. “I’m very impressed. We need to keep up with Grand Rapids and other larger cities. Muskegon loses so many of its young people to other cities.”

But the WaterMark isn’t just a young professional draw. Debbie and Rick Ronning live in a large family house in Norton Shores, but with kids gone, they are looking at other options as they approach retirement. Rick works at Howmet Corp. in Whitehall andDebbie at the Coastline Deli in downtown Muskegon.

She said she likes the urban feel of The WaterMark.

“I truly would like to see the downtown reborn,” Debbie Ronning said. “I don’t want us to talk about it but do nothing. This does something. They have taken an abandoned building and made it beautiful.”

Several guests in The WaterMark last week compared the new condominiums to the apartments created at The Amazon Building — an affordable housing project carved out of an old mill and warehouse on Western Avenue several blocks closer to the city’s center.The WaterMark and The Amazon apartment buildings are creating residential space out of old industrial space. The Amazon is an older, wood-framed building from the turn of the century. The WaterMark’s first phase along Hudson Street and Washington Avenue,at the rear of an industrial complex of nearly 1 million square feet, is in a part of the building built of masonry in the mid-20th century. Some of the dozens of buildings cobbled together to make the Shaw Walker building date back to the 1890s.

Both The Amazon and The WaterMark were designed by Hooker/De Jong Architects & Engineers of Muskegon, using elements from the former industrial days to create a unique urban feel. The WaterMark, designed by project architect Gary Breen, is upscale, withhigh-quality doors, windows, kitchen cabinets and other appointments.

The WaterMark features 12-foot ceilings and nearly floor-to-ceiling windows. There is plenty of exposed original brick and several units have spiral support columns, remnants of the original factory, incorporated into the interior design. The retro-industrial look is complete with open ductwork along the ceilings for heating and air conditioning.

“This is a Better Homes & Garden look,” Debbie Ronning said. “This is what you would dream about in a magazine. I think it will sell well in Muskegon.”

Initially, ANM and its locally based real estate and mortgage divisions have six units reserved as closing documents are being prepared for actual sales, company officials said. The company released 21 initial units — each with a inside parking space — but shortly will be selling all of the original 53 lofts in the five-story building.

ANM has an aggressive five-phase development of the entire Shaw-Walker building. The next phase will be 11,000 square feet of commercial space just east of the initial residential section. The third phase along Division Street now is being designed for approximately 90 more condo units as construction will begin when first-phase units sell, said ANM Group President Moses Gross.

“The interest in The WaterMark has been tremendous,” Gross said. “It’s been overwhelming.”

Not only Gross and project manager Sarah Rooks are hoping for market success. The WaterMark has become a test market for downtown living in Muskegon, according to Muskegon Construction Co. President Gary Post. Muskegon Construction is the general contractor on the first phase of The WaterMark.

“If this is successful, it lays the groundwork for other downtown developments,” Post said. “There are those in Muskegon and outside who are interested in downtown but are (waiting to see) how successful this is first. We need to get the community behind this project.”

Downtown development efforts such as Edison Landing and the redevelopment of the former Muskegon Mall property will rely heavily on residential development to go along with commercial uses, such as office, entertainment and specialty retail. WaterMark sales will spur other investment, Post said.

The WaterMark is just one of the developments that community leaders hope will attract young urban professionals so important to creating “cool cities” and developing a “creative economy.” Local development officials are blending Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s“cool cities” program to attract young professionals to state urban areas and the economic trend of new jobs coming from idea-based rather than product-based activity.

“There is not another place like it in Muskegon ... its a new concept in living for this market,” Post said of WaterMark. “The layout is attractive for the younger set, I think. It is cool to take a building and convert it into a showpiece for Muskegon. I hope local people recognize that.”

Several hundred got to see what urban loft living Muskegon-style is like. Rooks said ANM is pleased with the initial response.

“The party really created the buzz that we were hoping for,” Rooks said.

Copyright ©2006, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF Shaw-Walker memories

February 7, 2005 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Susan Harrison Wolffis; Chronicle staff writer

Oh, the stories they could tell. See that smokestack over there? Lightning used to hit it, and with some regularity, too, until a worker was hired to slice 18 feet off its height. When he was done, someone dared him to dance a jig on the catwalk where he’d worked. Much to everyone’s surprise, he did; and lived to laugh about it.

See that building over there? It sits on 22 feet of sawdust, a lasting legacy of the sawmills that stood on the site before Arch Shaw and L.C. Walker built their first factory at the corner of Western and Division in 1902.

See that?

The new owners, the people who are turning the former Shaw-Walker building into WaterMark Lofts, may call that area “Phase I” of the development with its beautiful condominiums for sale.

But the men who worked at Shaw-Walker, men like Manny Fishel, 77, Bob Nelson, 75, and Frank Sallgren, 75, they know it as “Building 35.”

“In fact, I built that building in 1967,” Nelson said. “Or was it ’68?”

Whatever the date, for one afternoon last week, time fell away for the three Shaw-Walker retirees who took a perfunctory look at a “Phase I” WaterMark Lofts condo.

But what they really wanted to see was the rest of the building, the floors not yet reached by condo construction workers and architects. They wanted to go back to the departments where they worked to feed their families, buy their first houses and cars,send their kids to college.

See that on the fifth floor? To the outsider, it may have looked like a mess: windows broken, graffiti everywhere, floors and ceilings buckling badly from frozen pipes and leaking water. No heat. No lights. No matter.

For Nelson, it was every floor visited. As plant engineer, there weren’t many places he didn’t go. But for Fisher and Sallgren, it was on the fifth floor: the spray paint department.

“This is where I worked,” Sallgren said, his feet finding the exact spot where he’d stood so many years. The room was bare, devoid of everything but the history of a major employer in Muskegon and the memories of the men who made the office furniture that made Shaw-Walker famous.

Fishel, 77, worked 421⁄2 years at Shaw-Walker before retiring in 1989. Most of his career, he was a supervisor in the paint room, where men spray-painted desks, credenzas and tables.

Nelson, 75, worked 43 years, first in the standards department, then as plant manager and finishing as manufacturing manager. He retired in 1990.

Sallgren, 75, worked at Shaw-Walker for 45 years. He started as a hand sander, moved into the spray paint department and finished in the chair department before he retired in 1991.

At one time, 96 men earned their living in the spray paint department that stretched from one end to the other of the sprawling fifth floor that one day will be turned into condos and an atrium.

“There was never one day I hated coming to work,” Sallgren said. “Never a day.”

When Fishel, Nelson and Sallgren went to work at Shaw-Walker, it wasn’t just a job. It was a livelihood, a secure future, the means to a better life.

Shaw-Walker was one of the few non-union shops in a booming post-World War II economy in Muskegon. The company paid “very competitive wages,” the men said, but what gave them the most peace of mind was that Shaw-Walker’s work force never went out on strike, and no one was laid off like they were in the union shops.

“I had a couple neighbors who worked at the Continental,” Fishel said, “and yeah, maybe they got paid a little more, but at the end of the year, I made more money ... because they’d get laid off, and I didn’t.” To a man, Fishel, Nelson and Sallgren characterize Shaw-Walker as a “family company.”

“Everybody knew everybody,” Fishel said.

Seldom did just one family member find a job at Shaw-Walker. Brothers and brothers-in-law worked together on the line. Second- and third-generations went to work where their dads and grandfathers were employed. When Nelson’s kids were old enough to workthere, they got summer jobs at Shaw-Walker that helped pay for their college tuition.

Don’t get the idea that only men worked at the company.

Shaw-Walker’s card department, which had the largest bank of Kluge printing presses in the world, was dominated by women employees. They made index systems there: folders and such for the filing cabinets the men made in the shop.

At its peak, Shaw-Walker employed 1,200 workers and ran three shifts around the clock.

The majority of them were like Fishel, Nelson and Sallgren. They started young and stayed, out of loyalty, until retirement. Fishel and Nelson went to work at Shaw-Walker right out of high school. Sallgren started “three weeks past 17,” quitting high school to take a job.

When Fishel and Nelson went off to serve in the military, their old jobs were waiting for them at Shaw-Walker when they got back, and they didn’t lose a minute’s seniority.

In the winter, everyone worked nine-hour shifts — not necessarily because orders were up, “but because L.C. figured we needed a little extra money in the winter to pay for our heating bills,” Sallgren said. Nelson, who ended his career in management, started working his way up the ladder early. Newly married, he was named assistant foreman of his department. But just when things should have been looking up, his world started to crash in on him. His wife was suffering from seizures, and doctors in Muskegon couldn’t find the reason.

“I guess I wasn’t looking very good one day because my boss called me into the office,” Nelson said. Before the meeting was over, his boss had scheduled an appointment for Nelson’s wife at the Mayo Clinic and arranged for time off and transportation to get there.

“And when I got back, I found out I was on full pay,” Nelson said, overcome with emotion, even though it’s been at least 40 years since his employer’s act of kindness.

“It was a good place to work,” Nelson said.

After her treatment at Mayo, his wife never had another seizure.

Hardly anyone knew Fishel’s real last name in the shop.

“Call me ‘Fish,’ ” he said, and so they did, and do until this day.

For 33 years, “Fish” and Sallgren worked side by side in the spray paint department on the fifth floor. It wasn’t uncommon for their work areas, near a 360-degree oven, to reach well over 100 degrees.

They heard stories about each other’s kids, took lunch breaks together. They also took pride in their work and what it took to do it.

“I used to run up the stairs, carrying five-gallon cans of paint up five flights of stairs,” Sallgren said.

The men in the shop used to write each winter’s snowfall on the columns on each floor. They wrote the order numbers for parts needed and other things of importance on the brick walls. They stuck thermometers out the windows to keep track of the highs and the lows of the world outside.

“We found a lot of history recorded on those walls,” said Kelly Bublitz, job superintendent for Muskegon Construction Co, whose workers and subcontractors worked on the condos.

The building and the site it sits on also hold a lot of the town’s history. Parts of the building sit on deep, compacted piles of sawdust, a legacy left from the sawmills in the area.

Shaw-Walker employees dug up logs, completely intact with the loggers’ marks on them, 30 feet down, Nelson said.

“And a Stutz Bearcat was buried down there,” he said.

When the crane lifted it from its burial plot, the frame cracked, and no one knows its final resting place. But the story lives on.

The way business was done changed almost beyond belief from the time Fishel, Nelson and Sallgren went to work at Shaw-Walker in 1946 and ’47 and when they retired.

Just one example: Only one truck dock was needed in the beginning because everything was shipped by rail. By the time they left, everything was shipped by truck.

And another: When they started, no one had heard of a computer. By the time they left, the company was building equipment for offices that relied on them.

The men’s longevity on the job was a definite plus, Fishel said.

“You could sense problems coming before it happened,” he said. “That came from being on the job for so long ... you could sense something wasn’t right.”

For Fishel, Nelson and Sallgren, last week’s tour was the first time any of them had been back on the former Shaw-Walker premises since retirement.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Sallgren said. “I’ve wanted to see what (the condo builders) have done with our building.”>

“To me, it looks great,” Fishel said. “I like seeing it used for something.”

Historical fixture

• 1899 — Arch W. Shaw and L.C. Walker revolutionized office work with “The Complete Office System” — tabbed 3-by-5-inch index cards in a 9-inch oak box. Until then, roll-top desks with pigeonholes were used to organize business paperwork. Shaw and Walkerset up a mail-order business in two rooms in the Muskegon Opera House in downtown Muskegon. The initial capital investment: $450. The “office system” cost $1.95 each.
• 1902 — The first building was built on the corner of Western and Division, a 21-acre site that eventually housed 30 or more buildings that covered 1 million square feet.
• 1902 — Shaw and Walker included an in-house publication, “System,” with each purchase. Shaw was so fascinated with the publishing end of the operation, he moved to Chicago to expand the publication as “Magazine of Business.” In 1929, the magazine merged with McGraw-Hill Publishers to become “Business Week.” When Shaw moved to Chicago, the business partnership dissolved, but the company retained its name, and Shaw remained on the board of directors for years.
• 1913 — The steel file that was “Built Like A Skyscraper” was introduced by Shaw-Walker, making wooden file cabinets obsolete.
• 1920s — By the end of the decade, Shaw Walker had 4,000 office items in its inventory, including “clutter-proof” steel desks and fire files, conceived after Burlington Railroads lost more than $3 million worth of records in a Chicago fire.
• 1930s — The “correct seating chair” was introduced into the product line.
• 1940s — Shaw-Walker broke new ground by building a 29-inch-high desk instead of the traditional 30 1/2-inch desk.
• 1958 — Shaw Walker, L.C.’s son, became president of the company. L.C., who was president of the board, still went to work every day. His philanthropic gifts include the Walker Arena, Walker Gallery in the Muskegon Museum of Art and Walker Park; he died in 1963 at the age of 88.
• 1960s and ’70s — The company added modules, free-standing desks and contract office furniture to its list of products.
• 1980 — John Spoffard, L.C. Walker’s grandson and Shaw Walker’s nephew, became president of the company.
• 1989 — Shaw-Walker was sold to Westinghouse after 90 years as a private, family owned business. At the time of the sale, Shaw-Walker did $100 million in sales.
• 1990 — Westinghouse used the Shaw-Walker purchase to assemble the Knoll Group with other office furniture acquisitions.
• 1995 — Westinghouse sold its Knoll division to East Coast investors and the former Shaw-Walker building reverted to the Walker family. Knoll metal pressing opertions continue in the building today.
• 1999 — The Walker family sold the 920,000-square-foot building to a group of local investors to develop the Lakeview Center, a mixed use of office, commercial and residential redevelopment. Lakeview Center was unsuccessful.
• 2003 — ANM Group of Brooklyn, N.Y., purchased the building and received a low-tax Renaissance Zone designation for the building now being turned into The WaterMark Center.
• 2005 — An initial 53 units of loft-style condominiums are readied for occupancy.

Copyright ©2005, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF WaterMark sets the pace

June 27, 2004 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Dave Alexander; Chronicle Business Editor

A Brooklyn, N.Y., developer and others working on redeveloping Muskegon’s downtown have a lot on the line in the transformation of the former Shaw-Walker manufacturing plant into upscale condominiums.

ANM Group is well under way on construction of the first of several phases of redevelopment of the huge former office furniture manufacturing plant. The WaterMark’s first phase of one-, two- and three-bedroom units on the Washington Avenue side of the building should be complete by early 2005, company officials said.

How well the first units sell will determine how much of the nearly 1 million-square-foot industrial plant will be redeveloped into a residential and commercial center.

ANM Group President Moses Gross said the building at Division Street and West Western Avenue on the downtown’s west side has the space for up to 600 residential units. For the series of old industrial buildings to be removed or redeveloped could take upto five years, he said.

Watching the ANM Group’s progress at The WaterMark are other downtown property owners hoping to bring various types of residential development.

Plans are under way for two residential developments on Edison Landing — the $50 million redevelopment iof the former Teledyne industrial site into a business park on the east side of downtown. Loft Properties LLC — which is associated with Seyferth Construction of Whitehall — plans four, six-story condominium buildings at Edison Landing, while Gillespie Development of East Lansing plans a series of commercial buildings with second- and third-level apartments.

Meanwhile, the redevelopment of the former Muskegon Mall property by Downtown Muskegon Development Corp. is expected to include various types of housing, from single-family homes, condominiums to affordable elderly housing.

The market reaction to The WaterMark will determine how quickly other projects move forward, according to Frank Bednarek, an economic development consultant for both ANM and Downtown Muskegon Development. Bednarek said he is bullish on The WaterMark.

“The WaterMark will be the cornerstone of our downtown,” said the former Muskegon County administrator. “It’s a great location and has great views of Muskegon Lake. The spaces will be wonderful and it will be a great place to live.”

The WaterMark began its marketing with a showcase at The Lakes Mall, a Web site and billboards on Seaway Drive. Fineline Creative of Muskegon has put together the marketing materials and H2ML Inc. of Muskegon created the Web site, according to Sarah Rooks, local project manager of The WaterMark.

The initial WaterMark units — being sold as “New York-style” living in downtown Muskegon — will begin at $94,000 and average $150,000 each. Specific prices for the 14 different unit layouts on the four residential floors have not been set as ANM still isworking to hire a local real estate broker for the project, Rooks said.

At this point, The WaterMark is taking reservations for units.

“We have had a very positive reaction,” Rooks said. “People are really interested in the project. We get new inquiries every day.”

The first units sold will come with an indoor parking space on the lower level and each unit will include a yearlong membership at the nearby Muskegon Family YMCA.

Rooks said that The WaterMark has had interest both from perspective residents and those buying units as an investment. Interest has come from across West Michigan, she said.

“Most of the people are empty nesters looking to downsize,” Rooks said. “It will be a real attractive place to live with loft-style units ... a real urban type of living.”

The brick and masonry work in the old furniture factory will be exposed and units will have wall-to-wall 8-foot-high windows and 11-foot high ceilings. Doors and appliances will be in stainless steel, Gross said. Unit square footages vary from a 648-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bath unit to a 1,515-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath unit. The units will be finished with ceramic tile floors in the entries, kitchens and baths, while each unit will have separate heating and air conditioning systems and hookups for washers and dryers.

The entire building will be wired for high-speed Internet and cable television services. The first phase will include a roof-top garden and patio.

The lower level also will have 5,000 square feet of commercial/retail space open to a courtyard and exterior parking area on the north side of the building. ANM has had interest in the commercial space for retail and office uses, Gross said.

Whether a business or a resident, The WaterMark comes with some lucrative tax incentives. Like the downtown mall property and the nearby Amazon Building apartments, The WaterMark is in a low-tax Renaissance Zone, established by the city of Muskegon through the state.

For the next dozen years, businesses on site will not pay state Single Business Tax or personal property taxes. Those residing in The WaterMark do not pay property taxes, local and state income taxes. Under today’s market mortgage conditions for a moderate income resident earning $40,000 a year, a $150,000 condominium with a minimal down payment for a first-time home buyer would produce a monthly mortgage payment in the $775 range when all of the taxincentives are figured. The WaterMark condominium maintenance fees have yet to be established.

A similar condo outside of the Renaissance Zone would have monthly mortgage payments of $1,168, according to a Chronicle analysis.

“For the higher income individuals, if you make a decent amount, the saving on income taxes could cover a third to a half of the mortgage payments,” Gross said of the state and city income taxes.

Gross said the Renaissance Zone was a critical element in ANM moving forward with the redevelopment of the Shaw-Walker building. City and state officials have been helpful getting the first phase under way, Gross said.

“I feel grateful to the city of Muskegon for working with us so well,” Gross said. “We have a solid team built here in Muskegon. People have taken their interest in the development to a personal level.”

Muskegon Construction Co. is the general contractor for The WaterMark, which is being designed by Hooker/De Jong Architects & Engineers of Muskegon. Bednarek and attorney Eric Gielow of Parmenter O’Toole in Muskegon have worked on Renaissance Zone, regulatory and legal issues.

Gross said that once the first phase of the commercial/residential development has been completed, his company will move onto the second phase, redevelopment of 11,000 square feet of commercial space immediately to the east in what was an old loading dock.

The third phase continues the residential and commercial aspects of The WaterMark in a five-story section that fronts Division. With an interior courtyard that will allow for a domed atrium, the market will determine which floors are commercial and which residential, Gross said.

“Based on this market, our plans might change in the next phases,” Gross said.

WaterMark features
Architectural elements include grand interior columns with 12-foot ceilings, as well as:

• Wall-to-wall 8-foot high windows.
• Walk-in closets available and extra storage space.
• Ceramic tile flooring in entries, kitchens and bathrooms.
• Individual controls for heat and air conditioning.
• Ground level includes separate retail and/or office space.
• Top-of-the-line Kenmore appliances in an open kitchen design.
• Washer/dryer hookups.
• Maple cabinets and trim in kitchen.
• High-speed Internet and cable access.
• On-site or in-building parking available

Copyright ©2005, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF ‘Lofty’ development planned for factory

March 11, 2004 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Dave Alexander; Chronicle Business Editor

Some New York City developers hope to leave their “mark” on the downtown Muskegon waterfront.

ANM Group of Brooklyn, N.Y., and its P & G Holdings LLC have begun the redevelopment of the huge Shaw-Walker furniture factory complex at Division Street and West Western Avenue with an initial phase of 53 condominium residential units.

The redevelopment of the empty manufacturing building into residential and commercial spaces will be known as The WaterMark. The first 53 units will be known as The WaterMark Lofts and be available for occupancy by the end of the year, according to ANM Executive Vice President Moses Gross.

The 83,000-square-foot Phase 1 of The WaterMark Lofts is in a five-story portion farthest away from the lake side of the complex — one of the most recently constructed dating back to the 1940s. The first floor will have indoor parking and a 5,000 square-foot commercial space.

Floors two through five will be divided into 53 condominium apartments from a 700-square-foot one-bedroom unit to a 1,500-square-foot three-bedroom unit. Gross said prices have not yet been established but that they will be “competitive and affordable.”Those working on The WaterMark development say that ANM Group will first develop the non-lake side of the Shaw-Walker building, in order to not compete with its lakeside phase.

ANM’s project manager for The WaterMark, Gross showed off the former manufacturing space Wednesday and introduced his Muskegon development team. The architect is Gary Breen from Hooker-DeJong Architects & Engineers and the general contractor is MuskegonConstruction Co. and its president, Gary Post.

Legal and environmental work has been done by Eric Gielow, an attorney with Parmenter O’Toole in Muskegon. Marketing work has been done by Fineline Creative in Spring Lake.

“It has been a real local team putting this project together,” said Frank Bednarek, vice president of development for Hooker-DeJong.

The Shaw-Walker complex is a series of 29 buildings patched together on a 21-acre site over the past 100 years. It has more than 920,000 square feet.

ANM officials said they are confident that the West Michigan market is ready for an urban redevelopment project like The WaterMark. The development is in Muskegon’s low-tax Renaissance Zone, which gives businesses and residential owners a number of taxbreaks such as no state and city income taxes and no property taxes for the next dozen years.

“This project will boost Muskegon to new heights,” said Isaac Kleinbart, a loan officer for ANM.

Gross said his company is ready to move forward on the second of five phases as pre-sales begin on the Phase 1 residential units. Next up will be the loading dock and single-story warehouse building immediately west of the initial residential section ofthe building, which will renovated into commercial office space, Breen said.

“Progress has started,” Gross said as Muskegon Construction subcontractors were working on electrical conduit and brick work within the south end of the cavernous building. Construction was to have begun last year, but the project was delayed many months to acquire Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approval.

The DEQ has allowed residential use on all floors above the first level, which will be dedicated to commercial or office use. Gielow said that ANM’s agreement with the DEQ has given the developer the green light to continue redevelopment of the remainderof the Shaw-Walker building.

Meanwhile, the only other tenant in the building is Knoll, a furniture maker with a press operation on the west end of the building. Gross said Knoll has two more years left on its lease and that the “timing” will be right when The WaterMark development will progress to a point that Knoll will need to find another location.

Copyright ©2005, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.

PDF Anchor management - Brooklyn developers envision ‘big potential’

March 1, 2004 — Muskegon Chronicle
Author: Dave Alexander; Chronicle Business Editor

How does an investment and real estate company led by orthodox Jews from Brooklyn end up in Muskegon to take on the largest redevelopment project in the city’s history?

By “coincidence,” says ANM Group Executive Vice President Moses Gross.

Gross is the project manager of an effort to redevelop the massive Shaw-Walker building on the west end of downtown Muskegon’s waterfront.

Construction recently began on the first of five phases to turn the nearly 1 million square feet of industrial and warehouse space into a residential community to be known as The WaterMark. Muskegon Construction Co. subcontractors have begun working on an initial 53 condominium units that will be known as The WaterMark Lofts, which should be ready for occupancy by the end of the year.

ANM is a Brooklyn, N.Y., development company that has worked on about two dozen similar but smaller redevelopment projects in Brooklyn. The company also has developed a 250-unit senior center in upstate New York.

Gross was noncommittal when asked about how his company ended up with the Shaw-Walker building, its first project in the Midwest. He said it was a long story that he wasn’t going to tell.

According to Muskegon consultants who have been working with ANM in planning The WaterMark, the New York company accidentally discovered Muskegon by way of Kalamazoo.

The Shaw-Walker building was being marketed by S.J. Wisinski & Co., a Grand Rapids commercial real estate firm. Gross reportedly was in Kalamazoo looking at an abandoned General Motors factory site, which did not meet his needs. The Wisinski broker offered to show Gross the Shaw-Walker property along the Muskegon Lake waterfront.

ANM and its development arm, P&G Holdings LLC, purchased the 21-acre industrial site at West Western Avenue and Division Street from Mellowood Development LLC for $1.75 million in November 2001, according to Muskegon County real estate records. The sprawling Shaw-Walker plant with its 39 separate buildings and 920,000 square feet is now assessed by the city of Muskegon at a true cash value of $1.232 million, county records show.

“They like the price and they liked the water,” according to Frank Bednarek, vice president of development for Hooker-DeJong Architects & Engineers of Muskegon. Hooker-DeJong is the WaterMark architect for ANM.

The New York company plans to redevelop the cavernous Shaw-Walker facility in five phases. In the end, it could end up with the entire first level of the building for commercial and office use and all of the upper floors residential condominiums.

The venture is a risk, and traditional banks did not want to back the effort, Gross said. Instead, ANM Group put together a syndicate of private investors, a group which funds all of the company’s projects. “I feel that there is a big potential in Muskegon,” Gross said. “The people of this community are looking for something new, big and different. This will bring things back to life. It is great for the people, the community and our company.”

ANM — which also stayed local for its general contractor, Muskegon Construction Co. — is seeking a local real estate firm to market and sell The WaterMark units. Gross said his company has not established a price for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units in the first phase of 53 condominiums.

Earlier this week, Gross would only say that the units would be “competitive and affordable,” adding that the prices will be less than the company’s New York developments. ANM is building 24 new loft-style condos in Brooklyn and the Williamsburg Mews units will range from $325,000 to $650,000.

A large incentive for the developer and future condo owners is the existing low-tax Renaissance Zone status of the property available for the next decade. Condo owners will not have to pay city or state income taxes or property taxes during that time. Businesses locating in The WaterMark will not have to pay state Single Business Taxes.

If the entire building is converted to condos and first-level businesses, The WaterMark might end up having more than 400 housing units. Gross said his company will launch the second and third phases of development based on sales in the initial phase. Gross said ANM wants to construct units for condominium sales, not rental. However, in the future the company might determine that some rental units need to be added to the mix. In any event, the Muskegon City Planning Commission must approve site plans for each phase before construction begins.

Gross would not speculate on the amount of money it will take to redevelop the Shaw-Walker building nor would he estimate how much his company will spend on constructing the initial 53 units. However, ANM has agreed to spend at least $3 million by September 2005 in a development agreement with the city as part of the Renaissance Zone designation.

City officials are excited about the potential of The WaterMark redevelopment and its overall affect on the downtown. Vice Mayor Bill Larson said The WaterMark fits into an overall redevelopment plan for downtown Muskegon.

“This is an anchor for one end of the downtown, and the other end has the SmartZone and Edison Landing,” Larson said. “This is ideal. The old will blend with the new. Now we have to work on the middle.”

The Edison Landing is a $50 million high-tech business park under development that is home to the Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center. Larson speaks of the middle as the city hopes to redevelop the former Muskegon Mall property that now is being cleared for a potential residential-commercial development by a Detroit-area company.

Copyright ©2005, Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI), All rights reserved.