More doors, fewer bars: A look inside the new $35 million Saginaw County Jail

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^ Wow - It seems like this project moved very fast, once it broke ground.

Born in Saginaw, happy to see a development thread here and stuff going on in the area!

Welcome to the thread! It's been a slow trickle of updates from time to time here. Now with all the flooding in the area, there will probably be much more to track with all of the rebuilding that will hopefully start soon. Feel free to contribute!

Here here! Fortunately downtown Midland and the Dow HQ Campus (plus adjoining superfund site) were spared the wall of water that would have wrecked havoc if the Sanford Dam wasn't built with a fail safe "fuse plug" which allowed the dam to have a natural weak point which would fail first creating an emergency spillway but saving the rest of the structure. Unfortunately the aforementioned area included the town of Sanford however if the Sanford Dam had failed completely like Lake Wixom had then the scenes that played out in Edenville and Sanford would have likely included the center of Midland. Truly a miracle no one was killed or seriously injured and that the damage was not catastrophic on a grand scale.

Exciting news in Mt. Pleasant, MI -

200 E. Broadway and 111 S. University, two historic properties in downtown Mt. Pleasant, might be getting an upgrade soon, with the support of a state program. The city hopes that their RFQ for these properties will lead to a viable, mixed-use development scheme that builds on the momentum of other downtown projects, like 410 W. Broadway - a new, mixed-use, 4-story project currently underway.

200 E. Broadway is actually comprised of 5 connected buildings, totaling ~23,500 SF. It was built in 1880 to house a bank, as well as on Opera House on the second floor. For decades, it served as the home of Isabella County State Bank, along with numerous other businesses on the upper two floors. Isabella Bank had completely moved out by 2018, and the rest of the facility had been underutilized for the better part of half a century. The adjacent 111 S. University is much smaller, at ~4,000 SF, 2-stories, and built in the early 1900's. It served as the home of the Enterprise Newspaper Print Shop until the late 1940's.

Fortunately, it looks like a key part of the new exterior facelift for 200 Broadway will be removing the 1970's-era façade and recovering the original masonry below. The basement & top two floors are like a time capsule.

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Source for all of the above: Second Wave Media

FYI, here is a rendering of the under-construction 410 W. Broadway development, which is just a few blocks west of this.

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Source: Michigan Community Capital

There was a groundbreaking on October 9 for a new "Miracle Field" in downtown Midland's Central Park. The baseball field will be barrier-free, with poured rubber surfaces instead of traditional grass & gravel. This is a project that has been ten years in the making.

Wow, that's awesome news about 200 E. Broadway. What a huge improvement.

This is a few weeks old now. Spence Brothers posted a few pictures of construction progress (concrete deck pour) at the new Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Saginaw from around the beginning of October. Not much news out of Saginaw, so thought I'd share. Architecture and engineering is by HED, with program management by Enviah -

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Source: LinkedIn | Spence Brothers

Speaking of Spence Brothers, they also posted some construction photos of the progress at Delta College's Midland Center around 3 weeks ago. Tower Pinkster is the architect on this one -

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Source: LinkedIn | Spence Brothers

Saginaw - the new union hall for UA Local 85 (Plumbers, Steamfitters, & HVACR Union) is almost done. This was a renovation project, done by Spence Brothers. They posted some photos 2 weeks ago -

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Source: LinkedIn | Spence Brothers

Also in Saginaw, there's a new sculpture at Delta College's Downtown Center -
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Source: LinkedIn | WTA Architects

Some non-glamorous, but still-important development-related updates -

Saginaw -

Midland -

In terms of local elections, pretty big news for Saginaw Public Schools -

Of particular interest might be the construction of a new High School in downtown Saginaw, adjacent to the current Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy (SASA) building. SASA would be relocated to the older Arthur Hill High School (northwest of downtown). Saginaw High School would be repurposed as a new middle school. I don't know enough about Saginaw to interpret was this sentence means, from the article:

From what I can tell, the Handley Building is a much-older Elementary School on Elm St.. Unless there's something newer, also named Handley, located at the current Arthur Hill campus. The official bond language makes it sound more like a new Handley Elementary will be building on the Arthur Hill Campus, and together with the refurbished Arthur Hill Building, will make the "gifted" campus.

Source: MI Treasury Department

The bond language also kinda makes it sound like the current downtown SASA building would be demolished once the new, adjacent High School and the new SASA complex at Arthur Hill were completed. Not sure what happens to the current Handley Elementary.

Bloomfield Hills & Kalamazoo-based TMP Architecture is the architect on the job. They are one of the big K-12 firms in the state. I know some folks there and I will try and share updates as they become available.

Midland -

The impressive-looking new Heart and Vascular Center at MidMichigan Medical Center is now complete. There will be a virtual tour November 19.

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Not specific to just Saginaw, but because of the name, I'll put it here. This large infrastructure project spans 3 counties and just wrapped up.

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Source: dbusiness | Courtesy Consumers Energy

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Source: WSGW Newsradio | Riverfront Saginaw / DDA

Some Midland (area) Updates -

1. Saginaw Streetscape Project

Midland City Council recently approved a budget amendment and purchase approval for Phase 1 of the planned Saginaw Streetscape project. The initial work will include constructing 8 ft. walkways along both sides of Saginaw, new street lighting, new plantings, and improved access.

2. Edenville Dam

The state / EGLE is stepping in to “alleviate concerns about the stability of the remaining dam embankment, restore natural river flow to the Tobacco River, reverse negative impacts on natural resources and seek to avoid another major flooding event when winter snow melts and spring rainstorms arrive."

3. Temporary M-30 Bridge

And in other post-flooding cleanup / restoration news, MDOT has begun working on a temporary bridge structure in Gladwin County.

This article makes me hopeful for Sanford. It includes photos comparing flood-ravaged parts of Sanford & Midland from the 500-year flood event in May to the progress 6 months after, in November.

I was confused at first, until I realized that this article has a significant typo. They would be moving to 1645 Marquette Ave. - NOT 1625 Marquette St. It makes a big difference, considering 1625 Marquette St. is in an entirely different area of the city, maybe 1,000 SF, and apparently the one-time home to "Lupo's Permanent Hair Removal Clinic".

Aside - the quality of journalism at MLive continues to be consistently weak. This article was behind a paywall, and is called a "Subscriber Exclusive". Why would I pay a $100 / year subscription for a story that can't even get a simple address right? Thankfully there is such a think as "incognito windows". Journalism's a tough gig any day, and especially right now, but sometimes I think I work harder updating this forum (and I don't get a cent). MLive - gotta up your game if you want my hard-earned money!

Here's another hopeful story about flood recovery efforts in the Midland community -

Related, MDOT posted a picture on Instagram yesterday, showing an aerial view of the temporary M-30 bridge construction over the Tobacco River in Gladwin County. The photo is from about a week ago -

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MDOT just shared a few more progress photos of the temp. M-30 bridge construction on their Instagram account a few days ago. Looks like fun working conditions!

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