Development: the Marquette

St. Joseph needs the Marquette - by asil khizar

St. Joseph is no longer the town it once was: we’ve overdone the small-town aesthetic for long enough, and  it's time to grow up. Downtown is the central hub when you come to St. Joseph, whether you're here for Silver Beach or to visit the city, the majority of the activities are downtown. But there's only a couple shopping boutiques downtown, and the list of restaurants isn’t exactly that long. The centerpiece of our city is actually quite bare;it leaves visitors and residents alike starved for entertainment. Although pop up attractions like Donuts and Dancing by Zo’s donuts are a good addition, it's only a bandage over a gaping wound. If St. Joseph is to grow in both population and prosperity, developments should be the top priority. 

While yes, St. Joseph is known to be the small-town on Lake Michigan with beautiful sunsets and bright blue waters, even St. Joseph’s City Commissioner can admit that population growth has dwindled. At the same time, we’ve seen moves from the city that show they want to elevate the city's status as a vacation destination with changes to parking rules, downtown cleanups, and the new park on Silver Beach. Developments on the bluff wouldn’t destroy the small-town vibes because we’re still dealing with the same amount of space, rather modernization would elevate the city out of the 2000s into a sprawling hub. The last major construction downtown was the City Hall in 1997, so 29 years later it should be more than acceptable to build some new things in a plot that has been a vacant eyesore for years. 

The Marquette on Lake Boulevard will be the first major development in St. Joseph in a long time and will feature space for underground parking, commercial space for new businesses, and apartment buildings for new and current residents. Considering the city has been grappling with how to deal with downtown parking for months now, a whole new underground lot for parking would be helpful in alleviating that stress. On the other hand, the commercial space would allow for new businesses, both local and chains, to move in and establish themselves. When you take a look at early 3D mockups of what the building would look like, it definitely looks like it would fit the aesthetic of existing buildings downtown. 

“I’d definitely rather have a building there than stay empty as it has for a while, and the underground parking would be a good idea” Aiden Bebe, 11said. This new addition would definitely make more reasons for residents to get outside and give visitors even more reasons to visit. 

Although some may argue that the apartments won’t immediately benefit St. Joseph residents as most of them will be bought up by people from outside the city, looking at the long term, that expansion and development over time will snowball into even more funding for more construction and development. As city revenue increases, so will the population gains. It's better to look forward to 10 or even 20 years. 

Reminiscing over the aesthetic of our city is cute and all, but look at any other town that has developed into something greater. Did cities like Chicago, Orlando, and Las Vegas constrict their growth just to maintain their vibe?  No they did not, and nowadays they are still known as great vacation spots. The answer to this dilemma is simple: let's stop constricting St. Joseph to our expectations; it's time to let it flourish past the small-town reputation into something even better.

Is the Marquette really worth it? - by elle parker

For years, downtown has been the heart of St. Joseph: rustic brick buildings, beach-town boutiques, and sweeping bluff views; now, one $57.5 million-dollar eye sore is going to destroy the very character that draws in tourists and keeps small businesses afloat (Wittkowski).

A planned 7 stories filled with high-caliber apartments, at least 2 restaurants, and around 12,000 square feet of retail space, the development will be nothing short of luxury. In other words: ridiculously expensive. For many St. Joseph families, already living in a time of skyrocketing prices and a cost of living that doesn’t leave much room for living at all, these apartments will never be an option; instead, they’ll mostly be inhabited by Chicago vacationers for 3 months out of the year and left vacant for the other 9. 

Not only will St. Joseph natives not reap the benefits of the development, but there will also be repercussions on the town itself. Walkable brick roads, an old-fashioned red lighthouse, and quiet beach afternoons have always led St. Joseph to a certain aesthetic: small, charming town with a lakeview. This nearly one-hundred foot tall apartment building simply won’t fit in. Rather, it will tower over most of the other buildings downtown, “I think it will really diminish what St. Joseph has always been,” Mason Hochstetler, 10 said. 

While this may seem trivial, the fact is that St. Joseph’s economy is held up by its aesthetic. There are plenty of towns on Lake Michigan, but tourists choose St. Joseph. They may not continue to do that if they don’t like what they see. 

Likewise, according to the Herald Palladium, the Marquette Development’s peak construction time is set to be around next summer, aligning with the peak tourist season. Construction could put a huge damper on the number of vacationers who choose to visit St. Joseph, and even if they do come, they might not want to venture into the downtown area, where the development will be occurring. This will have a huge impact on St. Joseph’s local businesses, who rely on the tourists to keep their storefronts open and make ends meet. 

Additionally, the construction could also have physical effects on the town. WSJM radio reports that concerns have been raised about excavating so close to the bluff. Excavation could potentially cause detrimental damage to the structural integrity of the bluff’s slope. 

It could be said that the restaurants, retail space, and the undoubted eventual tax revenue prove the Marquette to be beneficial to St. Joseph. And they might be right: new businesses certainly could spur economic growth in St. Joseph. But economic development shouldn’t just be measured by how much money enters a town. It should be measured by who benefits from it—and what is given up in return. 

The reality is, a lot is given up for the Marquette to be a success. And is that really worth it? To sacrifice our town’s charm, our neighbor’s livelihood, and maybe even our bluff itself, all for a sure vacation spot for wealthy Chicagoans and the potential for economic growth?