Plans for Negaunee assisted living facility are underway
The ball is rolling in the development of a new assisted living facility in the city of Negaunee. The City Council gave tentative approval for an agreement with Hinkson Negaunee Properties, LLC, to develop the facility and adjoining infrastructure at its most recent meeting.
The Marquette County Brownfield Authority is one of the integral partners in the development. The Authority is helping to craft a plan that allows for tax incentive financing to develop the area beyond the west end of Water Street, which is a former mine site. Extending utilities and the street itself to the location are a key component of that plan.
“Basically, the developer builds something. That creates an increase in the tax base,” Marquette County Brownfield Authority director and Land Bank Authority chair Anne Giroux said. “Those taxes get captured and pay back that developer for their eligible expenses until they’re paid in full, and then, you know, the property is taxed as it normally would be.”
“On a lot of developments, the city would incur costs of putting in, paying for the infrastructure, meaning the streets, sewer, water, and electrical,” Negaunee city manager Jeff Thornton said. “A lot of those costs are recapturable. The Brownfield will pay for a lot of those costs, and it’s actually putting the burden and the cost on the back of the developer rather than the citizens and the city.”
Beyond a new assisted living facility, the project offers the potential for several additional commercial and residential lots.
“Because you’re going to have a mixed use out there, the property’s going to have to be rezoned and there’s going to have to be some site plans provided,” Thornton added. “They have some conceptual ideas of what the site’s going to look like, but that’s up to the Planning Commission to take a look at regarding parking, natural barriers, and that type of thing.”
The project is in its early stages, so there are quite a few more steps to take before breaking ground. Documentation needs to be approved by both the Marquette County Board of Commissioners and the City of Negaunee before moving forward. The project’s development manager expects construction to begin later this summer.