Munising Facade Improvement Grants
Munising has some economic incentives that are likely encouraging some of that growth.
One of them is a grant program the Downtown Development Authority has had since 2006.
By the end of this summer, it’ll account for $185,000 that have gone to businesses.
The DDA offers a one-to-one match for businesses that are making facade improvements.
The grant helped convince the owners of Northwoods Printing to buy the building they’d been renting and open a new shop in part of the building.
Jim Erwin says that without the one-to-one match from the DDA, he and his wife wouldn’t have been able to make the renovations the building needed.
Sales have gone up for the print shop since the improvements, and Erwin hopes they spill over into the new gift shop, Wooley Worm Gifts & Antiques.
The grants have helped an owner of two new businesses that should be open later this month.
Donna Kolbus encourages anyone thinking about starting a business venture in the city to take advantage of the grants.
She also says Munising is a much better place to be now than it was 4 or 5 years ago, and the new look of many city buildings has a lot to do with it.
Kolbus is re-opening an old laundromat as Mill Street Laundry.
She’s also having an old car wash renovated into a new home for Shooters Lounge, which was once located downtown before moving to Munising Township.
Shooters’ new home will have a firefighting theme, since Kolbus’ dad was Munising’s fire chief for more than 30 years.