Manistee -
West Shore Community College (WSCC) purchased 400 River St. in 2019 for a new new Downtown Education Center. It apparently housed a Glik's (women's clothing chain, St. Louis-based) prior to this, though I'm a bit confused, because there is a Glik's right across the street at
394 River St., unless they switched buildings / leases.
Anyway, remodel work was delayed due to the pandemic, but the first-floor functions opened in December 2020, including the college space, office space for the Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce, and a Michigan Works! office. It sounds like the lower level will open a bit later - there is some covered parking, storage, and additional leasable space down there. In more ways than one, this project is designed to be an economic generator for downtown and the college.
WSCC's main campus is in
Scottville (Mason County, about 20 miles south of downtown Manistee and about 10 miles Northeast of downtown Ludington). It also has an "Education Center" due north of downtown Manistee on US 31.
The
existing building is pretty big, pretty prominent, pretty old, and - prior to remodel - pretty ugly. This is definitely a step up for the downtown setting that it is in. The CM is The Christman Company, and the designer is a local firm - Kendra Thompson Architects P.C. Construction cost around $3.2 million. I think that is in addition to the $470,00 purchase price for the property.
Renderings from January 2020 - I hope the building signage ended up looking better than this -
Source:
Manistee News-Advocate
Source:
Manistee News-Advocate
Some earlier photos, from October 2020 -
Source:
Kyle Kotecki | Manistee News Advocate
Source:
Kyle Kotecki | Manistee News Advocate
Source:
Kyle Kotecki | Manistee News Advocate