[DetroitMan]

Manistee-
Housing, hotel highlight $90M downtown redevelopment in Northern Michigan

A $90 million redevelopment, highlighted by housing and a hotel, is set to break ground this year in Manistee. The two-phase project also includes a parking deck, retail spaces, a restaurant, an event center and a heritage center. Completion is estimated for 2029.

“It’s basically making sure that a very crucial point of the downtown is utilized and functional,” said Bill Gambill, Manistee city manager. “We’re eager and excited to have it developed.” The site at the main entrance to the downtown has already been cleared. With construction originally scheduled to begin in 2021, it has sat flat and empty for years. Initial plans for a hotel and other businesses – but no housing – were scrapped in 2023 and developers went back to the drawing board, promising construction in 2025.

Little River Holdings, the development arm of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, is making good on that promise.

“The overall idea and goal of this project is to increase economic activity to the downtown, the Manistee area and for the Tribe,” said T. Eftaxiadis, environmental brownfield coordinator of Little River Holdings.

It will bring year-round and part-time residents as well as an estimated more than 30,000 visitors annually, he said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/01/h...d%20for%202029.