What the heck? Great buildings surrounded by nothing. Two buildings next to one another is a rare sight. Its like Detroit neighborhoods.

^Yup...that's what I was thinking.  What a sad sight.

BH has had some rough times.  When I visited there awhile back, I didn't expect to see much good going on when almost half of their entire city population is below the poverty line. -ouch-

Wow.

I've spent a lot of time in BH (and adjacent St. Joe's).  It's not exactly pretty, especially in the winter, but it was a beautiful place to be in the summer.

 

Downtown BH has a few developments happening:

-an upscale restaurant called the Ideal Place

-a second restaurant that I can't remember the name of, but is located in the building in picture 6

I think they're trying to spur an 'arts district' there if I'm not mistaken

 

Other areas of BH are quite impoverished, but there are some local groups trying to fix things up.  Becuase of the proximity of Whirlpool's HQ, the Habitat for Humanity group there is quite strong and has done a lot of work there.  I actually worked on a house there myself.

 

I'm pretty sure that there is also a big proposed development on the BH side of the river (near the waterfront) that would double the tax base of BH.  I want to say that the developer is Cornerstone something-or-other (it may actually be the local development corp.). 

 

Downtown St. Joe's is kind of nice, albeit really small.  They have a really nice beach there that is quite the tourist attraction in the summer.

My brother currently lives in St. Joseph.

 

The Ideal Place has closed recently, but there are still a couple of interesting places to visit while in BH. One block from where the Ideal Place was located is a local BBQ joint called Piggin' and Grinnin'. Also, there is a new microbrewery/live music venue called the Livery. Overall BH has seen its better days and hopefully it can share in some of the progress that has been made on the other side of the river.

 

There is an enormous development going on between the two cities called the Harbor Shores Project::::

 

Benton Harbor sees boon, bust in resort planIt's cash at park's expense

August 3, 2007

 

BY TINA LAM

 

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

BENTON HARBOR -- Four years after back-to-back nights of rioting drew national attention to the smoldering race and poverty issues of Michigan's poorest town, several nonprofits -- including an arm of Whirlpool Corp. -- are poised to execute a grand solution for Benton Harbor's ills.

 

They are ready to break ground on Harbor Shores, a $500-million golf course, hotel, marina and luxury home development along the shores of southern Lake Michigan. They say it will help reinvigorate the bleak industrial town, provide jobs, pump up its tax base and send golf course profits to community groups.

 

 

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Critics say the plan mostly benefits well-off Whirlpool executives and golfers -- not the residents of Benton Harbor, which routinely leads the state in various poverty indexes.

They say it will take away much of a park deeded to the city 90 years ago so that three holes of the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course can have panoramic views of Lake Michigan.

 

"This is not going to be all things to all people, but it will be a great catalyst," said Mark Mitchell, a Harbor Shores trustee.

 

Harbor Shores will sprawl across 530 acres -- nearly a square mile -- of Benton Harbor, Benton Township and neighboring St. Joseph.

 

Allowing parkland to be used for a development should concern people anywhere in Michigan, said Lana Pollack, director of the Michigan Environmental Council.

 

"It throws into question the permanency of any gift of land for public purposes," she said.

 

Infringing on Jean Klock Park

 

On a stretch of shore crowded with condos and cottages, Jean Klock Park stands out. It is serene and undeveloped -- a pretty half-mile beach backed by high forested dunes.

 

In 1917, town leader John Klock and his wife, Carrie, donated 90 acres of beach, dunes, forest and wetlands to the city to remember their daughter Jean, who died in infancy.

 

Residents grew up knowing the story.

 

"I was always told it was left as a legacy," said Michel Dasse.

 

Emma Kinnard was baptized at the park. Her class reunion was there. "The gift that was given to us is getting smaller and smaller," she said.

 

Needing revenue, the city sold 4 acres of the park bordering the beach for development in 2003. The Friends of Jean Klock Park, a citizen group, filed suit. A judge cited a technicality in ruling that the city was free to do as it wished with the land. To settle the case, the city agreed to leave the rest of the park undisturbed if it could sell the 4 acres.

 

But in December, city commissioners voted to lease 22 acres of the park just behind the dunes to Harbor Shores for its golf course. The beach still will be there, but a parking lot will be built on it.

 

Kinnard said she fears that local children will feel less welcome at the beach. "People in those lovely houses aren't going to want riffraff here," she said.

 

The city gets $30,000 a year for the 35-year lease, with 1% annual increases. The lease is renewable for another 70 years. Nearby lots are selling for up to $400,000 an acre.

 

"We don't oppose a golf course, but we oppose using Jean Klock Park for it," said LuAnne Kozma, Michigan director of Defense of Place, a national group that protects parks.

 

The project needed the park's land and its water views to succeed, Dave Whitwam, chairman of Harbor Shores, said in a presentation.

 

"Without an outstanding golf course, we see no way to bring needed investment into the Benton Harbor community," he said.

 

The developers still hope to break ground this summer, but need final approval from federal regulators. They would begin with the golf course.

 

Although just 25% of the park would be used for the course, all the rest -- except the sandy beach -- would be circled by golf holes and unusable, said Carol Drake, a member of Friends of Jean Klock Park.

 

Mitchell said people would be able to walk on boardwalks with overlooks to see other parts of the park, but won't be able to walk on it. Much of the park is unused now because it's undeveloped wetlands, he said.

 

Because state and federal tax money was used to develop park amenities, Harbor Shores must donate land to the city to replace lost parkland. The project is donating eight scattered parcels totaling 47 acres.

 

Some is in St. Joseph -- walkways through the middle of a proposed marina-townhouse development. All but one of the parcels are contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals, according to appraisals.

 

"How are people supposed to use that land as a park?" Kozma said.

 

Before the golf course can move forward, Harbor Shores awaits approval from the National Park Service to convert part of Jean Klock Park to a new use. Approval is required because federal money has been used for the park under a law aimed at preserving parkland. If the park service blocks the plan, the three lake-view holes would have to go elsewhere.

 

Granholm, state back project

 

Harbor Shores is a carrot Gov. Jennifer Granholm used to help keep Whirlpool and its jobs in Michigan, a victory she pointed to often during last fall's re-election campaign.

 

In May 2006, days before Whirlpool announced it would stay in Michigan, Granholm sent a letter to the firm supporting Harbor Shores and promising full cooperation from state departments in approving the project. So far, the state has provided funding and tax incentives worth more than $120 million.

 

The project is a coup for Whirlpool, which will have upscale homes and amenities to offer its executives. The developers expect two-thirds of the homes to be bought as second homes, many by Chicagoans.

 

City Commissioner Juanita Henry, who voted against leasing the park to Harbor Shores, said the city will see little revenue from the project for 15 to 20 years because of tax abatements and because the jobs it offers are mostly low-paying, like golf course maintenance.

 

Harbor Shores, which has not yet won tax-exempt status, plans to give profits from the course to community groups in the three towns, including several groups that work on literacy, job skills and housing.

 

How much those profits will be is hard to say. The nation has a glut of new courses since 1990 even though rounds played have stayed relatively flat.

 

Mitchell said he's confident that despite its seasonal nature, the course will do well.

 

"Nobody is coming in here with an auto plant," Mitchell said. "If someone has a better idea to create jobs, clean up all this unusable land and have a long-term impact, let's hear it."

 

 

 

 

^Interesting.  This must be the development I was referencing in my post.  I thought the name was Cornerstone, but maybe that's the community development group.

 

Can't believe Ideal Place closed.  They had great food and always seemed to be busy -- mostly with Whirlpool folks. 

 

Heard about the Livery but never went.  Now I wish I had.

What's really shocking is the disparity between BH and its neighbors; Saugatuck, Holland, Grand Haven and South Haven. Even New Buffalo. All are highly successful resort towns. Add to that highly white and staunchly Republican (exception being Saugatuck, which is noted for its gay-friendliness). Benton Harbor is not a magnet for anybody's money. I guess whitefolk don't like to see minorities on vacation unless he's holding the drink tray and is named Manuel. 

I've lived in Michigan almost 15 years, and I don't know where BH is.  Now I know why.

Actually, a lot of people I know who live in Michigan don't know where Benton Harbor is.  Yet they are quick to talk about the riots.

Wow. Desolate.

 

I could read that blurb about the new development as making the place nice by pushing the poor people out to make way for rich white people. That's not revitalization; it's gentrification, and it only defers dealing with the real issues and relegating them to the background where they build to a critical mass while nobody outside notices (until they explode).

^If I remember the site for that development correctly, it's definitely not pushing poor people out.  Is it developing waterfront parklands -- yes, sounds like it.  But there is no residential on that site now.

It's easy to think only southeast Michigan has it bad, but western Michigan has many hard-scrapple little urban centers. Muskegon, for one, depresses the hell out of me.

Muskegon, for one, depresses the hell out of me.

 

Ugh. My sister-in-law's from there. It's the only place I've ever seen where the suburbs were in worse shape than the actual city.

 

However, the big park on the lake is quite nice.

^And they actually have a VERY cool yacht club. Definitely pro-slob.