Linear Park Project

The Marquette Commons Project consisted of a groomed, refrigerated ice plaza with a skating rink, warming house, a non-motorized trail and a fountain located near the heart of the city on the site of an old parking lot and elevated railroad trestle.

The Marquette Commons is a public recreation and gathering space that offers an ice-skating rink in the winter. In the summer its hosts concerts, one of Michigan’s top 10 farmers’ and artists’ markets, and the Blueberry Dance Festival, part of Marquette’s widely popular annual Blueberry Festival, among other all-season community activities. The Commons also features a locally designed fountain and benches that represent the downtown’s first outdoor public art. Marquette’s historic downtown is home to many unique local businesses, including retail, restaurants, galleries, and museums. Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula, a major port on Lake Superior, and home to Northern Michigan University.

As a Cool Cities catalyst project, the Commons draws people downtown and enhances Marquette’s image as a livable, walkable, vibrant community that attracts residents and visitors. The walking and biking paths have been expanded, now connect to the downtown, and are easier to negotiate. In large part because of this catalyst project, businesses have moved in and expanded, decreasing the vacancy rate of the Commons’ first two floors from 14 percent to 4.4 percent and bringing in almost $9.2 million in public and private investment. Since the project’s inception, the area has also gained 64 new employees and 13 residents as the community embraces the Commons.

Highlights:

• The perception of safety has increased because of the expansion of the walking and biking paths that now go downtown and link to old ones (this is a residual of the Commons project).
• The farmers’ market moved to the Commons the first year after its completion. This is a huge draw, bringing in 45 farmers and artists and 150–200 people at a time. It is one of  the top 10 farmers’ markets in Michigan. 
• There are increased cultural events in the area, including the annual Blueberry Festival, which makes its home in Marquette. During a major bike race downtown, the Commons was used for registration and other festivities, including children’s events. There are also ongoing concerts. 
• Marquette reported in 2005:
  • The Local Cool CitiesAdvisory Group (LCCAG) meets on a bi-monthly basis to discuss initiatives that can continue to develop collaborative relationships between Northern Michigan University, local youth groups, not-for-profit service and arts organizations, businesses, and city administration and groups.
  • Immediately following our designation, Marquette City, along with the DDA and our Local Cool Cities Advisory Group, sponsored a two-part forum for best practices. The morning series was a presentation to representatives of other Upper Peninsula municipalities featuring the Cool Cities director to discuss the Cool Cities Initiative. The session also included some of Marquette’s successful efforts. The evening session was an open visioning forum, which was intergenerational and included about 200 participants. Our particular focus was involvement of Northern Michigan University students. The forum included a one-hour facilitated visioning session and afterward featured a local popular band. There have been several initiatives that have been the result of the Cool Cities program. There is a group currently forming an investment association, which will focus on funding new startup businesses in the Downtown. A local not-for-profit arts cooperative has worked with the DDA to begin a summer concert series at the site of our Cool Cities catalyst project. The series, known as "UnCommon Thursdays," has been very successful and has also received the financial support of nine local businesses, who sponsored the events.
  • The Local Cool Cities Advisory Group has sponsored two entrepreneurial workshops, one of which was co-sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Economic Development Association and Northern Michigan University. 
  • Five new business startups or business expansions and 12 jobs are projected.
  • $2 million of local public investment has occurred in the neighborhood.
  • $750,000 in private investment also has occurred in the neighborhood.
  • The assessed value of property in the downtown has increased at twice the rate of the properties in the rest of the city. 
  • There has been substantial investment in residential development downtown. Eight buildings have new or rehabilitated second-floor residential spaces totaling 12 apartments. One building, which was formerly an underutilized warehouse, has been developed into a mixed use/condominium project, and two "row house" condominium projects totaling 16 townhouses are currently under construction.
  • “The Cool Cities Neighborhood Award Designation has helped to develop pride in our quality of life and our assets. It has helped us focus on our assets to attract new residents and new businesses to our City. It has also helped to develop collaboration between organizations and groups to work to develop inititiatives that will help strengthen our economy.” - Mona Lang, Executive Director, Marquette DDA 
 
• Marquette reported in 2006:
  • We developed our own Cool Cities logo, which we used on water bottles, banners, and on a “Cool City” edition of wine.
  • The Local Cool Cities Advisory Group has helped to develop a monthly "Meet Me in the Commons" lunch to encourage the citizens of Marquette to get away from their desks and come to the Commons, where they can join friends and colleagues for an informal lunch. We also encourage people to take a walk on the paths around the Commons to promote healthy living. 
The Cool Cities group also sponsored the first annual Family Bike Ride, which started and ended at the Commons. The purpose of the ride was to provide a coordinated family event where families could join together to ride our wonderful city bike trails, and then gather after the ride to talk, share foods, and enjoy the Commons. 
  • The Cool Cities Group, in partnership with the Noquemenon Trail network, sponsored a YELLOW BIKE free distribution for kids. The concept was for kids to come to the Commons, take a yellow bike for the summer, and then return it to the Commons in the fall. This was meant to encourage youth to use bikes for healthy living. 
  • Through the Cool Cities group, in partnership with Northern Options, a city bike path map was developed to assist visitors and citizens in utilizing the paths throughout the city. The new maps point out places of interest, public restrooms, and other natural/manmade stops. The maps will be posted in central areas as well as distributed in pocket form. The idea was to encourage healthy living and use of our city bike paths. The Commons will be the site of one of the map postings.
  • The Marquette County health department has developed a series of programs related to the Cool Cities Initiative and to the use of the Marquette Commons. Our local DNR Conservation District staff has developed a program on native plantings, and the Noquemenon has developed a bike program for youth. The Downtown Marquette Association has developed a series of summer concerts known as “Uncommon Thursdays.”
  • The Cool Cities group hosted three entrepreneurial forums, one at the Marquette Public Library, another at NMU's Jacobetti Center, and the third at NMU's University Center. These forums were free to anyone interested. Speakers on a host of entrepreneurial subjects were brought in from the community to share their expertise through breakout sessions. The concept here was to encourage entrepreneurs to open businesses within our community. It was also meant to touch the younger population, who we want to keep in our area.
  • The project has attracted 23 new businesses and 6 expansions. 
  • The taxable value of downtown properties increased 7.7 percent from 2004 to 2005.
  • Several building owners took advantage of the MSHDA Downtown Rental Rehab program to develop low-moderate income residential units on the second floor of traditional retail buildings. This has resulted in an increase of six residential units. There has also been the development of six high-end condominiums in a former warehouse, and twelve single-family townhomes in the district. The downtown district population has increased 27 percent over the last year.
  • The city is in the process of reviewing and rewriting the ordinance related to downtown signage, noise, and outdoor dining in the downtown district.
  • Working with our state department champion, we were able to leverage an additional $1,865,950 in additional grant funding for our Cool Cities project as well as other interrelated projects in our downtown neighborhood.
  • We have used the Cool Cities designation as a marketing tool to help attract new investment and new businesses. We are experiencing both a return of young families moving “back home” and starting new businesses and “young” retirees moving to Marquette for summer living.
  • “Because of the Cool Cities Neighborhood Award Designation we have seen it act as a catalyst for many activities, bringing the community together and richening the environment for people to play and live. Our Thursday night concert series attracts a multi-generation audience, as it is a popular excursion for our Veteran’s hospital residents. Our third Thursday “Meet Me in the Commons” luncheons have been successful at allowing both downtown employees and professionals to get to know each other in an informal setting while providing a tool for marketing our different downtown restaurants.” - Mona Lang, Executive Director, Marquette DDA