But with the malls fading away and the shuttering of several national retailers in the area — Kmart in 2015, Sears Hometown in 2018, Shopko in 2019 — the city’s downtown has seen what Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Suzanne Larson described as a “resurgence.”

The number of stores, offices and other small businesses choosing to settle in the downtown has steadily grown in the past five to seven years, even during pandemic times.

Mindy Meyers, program director for the Iron Mountain Downtown Development Authority, had as a teen and young adult in Iron Mountain watched the once-busy downtown dwindle, drained by mall traffic.

But when she joined the DDA about 1 1/2 years ago, she was impressed by how much change had happened in the downtown.

(Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo) Loads of sand are trucked in Tuesday to the site of the former Timbers Motor Lodge at 200 S. Stephenson Ave., demolished to make way for a 95-room TownPlace Suites by Marriott hotel now under construction. The project is among several new developments in downtown Iron Mountain.

“It felt,” Meyers said, “like a resurgence.”

This has not been by happenstance. At least two property management companies say they deliberately decided to focus on rebuilding that historic section of Iron Mountain.

And the Downtown Development Authority, as the name implies, has worked through annual fundraising events to provide grants that allowed businesses to upgrade facades or make other improvements to their spaces.

It’s all aimed, they all said, at making the downtown area a “destination,” a place to gather and stroll, spend significant time rather than making one stop. To eat, drink, shop, socialize, listen to live music.

“I think the area was ready for it,” said Jesse Land of Menominee Range Investments, a major property holder in the downtown, “and the business climate was ready for it.”

He and Larson credit as forerunners Erickson Jewelers, which made the move to 511 S. Stephenson Ave. in 2018, and Holly DeGroot, who in 2016 converted the old train station at 310 S. Stephenson Ave. into Bijou Lovely fabric and gift shop.

“Many of our customers have fond memories of coming here when it was Frankini Jewelers in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” Erickson Jewelers co-owners Randy and Sherri Erickson said in 2018 in announcing the move from the Iron Mountain Plaza. “We are happy to be able to make this beautiful building a jewelry store again.”

But property managers like Land helped fuel the revival as well by specifically investing in the downtown.

Beau Anderson’s interest in developing downtown Iron Mountain grew after he and his wife, Brittany, purchased a building in Norway in November 2017 for her FIREFLIES non-profit organization for families and children. He then began to get referrals about other buildings for sale in the region, including downtown Iron Mountain.

Long an admirer of historic properties — when he traveled to Europe with his wife before they were married, she joked he took mostly photos of buildings — the 37-year-old Anderson said he gravitated to the old structures that remained in Iron Mountain’s core.

He envisioned a place not unlike the downtown Grand Rapids areas he and his wife would frequent when he worked with the automobile industry, before returning to the Upper Peninsula for a job at BOSS Snowplow.

He said the Eden Property Collection since 2017 has grown by about three buildings a year, including commercial, residential and short-term vacation rentals in the region. The bulk of his major holdings, however, have been in downtown Iron Mountain, partnering with Dave Brule Jr. The business also has Claire Valeski as property manager and A.J. Murray as maintenance manager.

The first acquisition in March 2018 was Stephenson Court, 127 S. Stephenson Ave., at the northeast corner of Stephenson Avenue and East Brown Street. It now houses Blomquist Architects, Upper Peninsula Audiology and the Michigan Works! office, among others.

The Sandstone Studios building, purchased in April 2019 in the 200 block of East Ludington Street, has seven apartments above where Carlos Cantina restaurant and Sol Blu Lounge have a condo arrangement for their street-level space, Anderson said. All of the units are occupied, he added, with a two-year waiting list. They recently completed a new 3,200-square-foot terrace area, with bathrooms and a small inside lounge, that is available for rent atop this building for up to 180 people, Anderson said.

Just up the road at 220 E. Ludington St. is another Eden Property, the “Copper Top Church” that has Lydia’s by Crock and Rocker boutique and the law office for Adam Kruppstadt.

Franklin Square, added in October 2019 at 333 S. Stephenson Ave., has O.M.GIGI Boutique women and children’s clothing, Francie’s Interior Design and Distinktive Tattoos, along with offices.

Acquired in August 2020, the Thunder Island building at 220 E. Hughitt St. — so named because it formerly had Thunder Island Music — is home to the Dickinson Area Community Foundation and the UP Kids store, plus eight apartments in the upper level.

They also bought the former Timbers Motor Lodge at 200 S. Stephenson Ave., since demolished to make way for a 95-room TownPlace Suites by Marriott hotel now under construction. Anderson said they originally had a vision of making it into a gathering space with a brew pub and outdoor entertaining area, but the emergence of COVID-19 led to taking a different direction.

Brule exited from the Eden Property Collection this past December, though he continues to be part of the IMT Lodging/Veridea Group project for the Marriott hotel. The two also remain partners in Anderson’s other primary business, Orion Hunting Products, which manufactures modular hunting box blinds and tower stands in Iron Mountain.

But much of Anderson’s attention still is aimed at the downtown. He’d still like to see that brew pub in the mix, or anything else that could better make the downtown a cultural and entertainment center.

That’s why he’s looking forward to Menominee Range Investments’ planned opening of a wine bar at 421 S. Stephenson Ave., the former ADvertiser office.

Jesse Land and his cousin, Scott Land, are the third generation of their family to run U.P. Machine & Engineering, a precision parts manufacturer in Powers that counts Caterpillar among its main customers.

Jesse Land said he spent some time in southern California and Madison, Wis. — where he met his wife, Erica — before returning back to the Upper Peninsula to stay for the next “20 to 30 years,” he said.

That led to the decision to invest in the community, Jesse Land said — and they settled on downtown Iron Mountain as having the most potential.

“We thought that by fostering business downtown, all the businesses would help each other,” Jesse Land said, later adding, “what’s gone in has complemented each other.”

Their first purchase was the Downtown Plaza, 427 S. Stephenson Ave., from Mike and Pat Nicometo in late 2017. The former site of the Montgomery Ward store on the northeast corner of South Stephenson Avenue and East A Street had three commercial tenants at the time. Now, its spaces are filled, Jesse Land said, with businesses such as Spiro’s restaurant and The Wishing Well gifts — the plaza’s longest occupant at more than four decades — now joined by Mully & Mo’s, a gift shop that also carries Hallmark merchandise.

Other holdings include Plaza Central at 415 S. Stephenson Ave., which has added Dulce Nulla gluten-free bakery, Charmaine’s Beauty Bar salon, Blends — The Green Spot juices and smoothies and where Core FunKtionS gym recently expanded; 323 S. Stephenson, home of The Man Cave hair and beard parlor, which opened earlier this month; and 311 S. Stephenson Ave., formerly Angie’s Beauty Supply, now being renovated into the future site of Smokler’s BBQ.

Jesse Land estimates MRI spent more than $1 million acquiring its five downtown properties, then roughly the same amount in renovations. But he believed the time was right for a downtown renaissance.

“The internet is quite convenient for many things, including shopping,” Jesse Land noted, “but people still need a place where they can physically walk around, touch things, interact.”

One key factor in this effort being successful for all involved has been cooperation rather than competition, both Land and Anderson said. They regularly meet for lunch to discuss future plans, Anderson said. He also mentioned Brad Staedt of RR Downtown LLC, who established Venue 906 in Kingsford as well, with playing a role downtown; he owns the building that has his wife Lori’s Exhale 906 salon and spa and until recently The Blind Pig.

“Everybody’s been competing fairly and just finding their own niche,” Anderson said, adding, “We just know the more (businesses) that are downtown, the better they are served … all of us are going to grow.”

Meyers would like to see the effort continue on the western side of South Stephenson Avenue and along Ludington Street and Carpenter Avenue.

The DDA’s five-year plan, developed by a board that meets monthly, calls for making the downtown more pedestrian-friendly as well, with landscaping and attractions that encourage walking around.

“All of these things build community,” said Meyers, who joined the DDA in June 2021.

Already in the works is a public art installation later this summer that will include stringing bistro lights over Ludington Street, similar to what’s on East A Street, and then hanging the art on those lines, Meyers said.

She credits not only the board but a host of volunteers for helping to make this downtown “resurgence” possible, adding, “we’re always looking for volunteers.” Anyone who wants to help can contact Meyers at mindy@downtownironmountain.com.

Creating more residential units downtown would be beneficial, too, as people who work there have a difficult time finding housing, Anderson said.

“My five-year plan,” he said, “is I don’t want to see any unused space downtown.”

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No