Center for Arts and Streetscape Project

The project involves the renovation of the old Pie Factory into the Saugatuck Center for the Arts and the enhancement of the adjacent city parking area, including streetscape improvements on Mason Street and Culver Street.

Highlights:

• The Saugatuck Center for the Arts (SCA) houses year-round tenants and expects that it will continue to grow and thrive economically.
• The SCA has become a necessary part of the community. It brings people to town (which is a big deal for a tourist town). It also brings businesses to the area. Aside from bringing in businesses, the SCA also allows Saugatuck to be a little less of a rural town. The SCA, for example, hosts an Off-Broadway professional theater year ’round. It's also home to the Water Front Film Festival, and hosts an Annual Children's Film Festival.
• The city uses the Cool Cities brand as a marketing tool. Cool Cities has helped to brand Saugatuck and legitimize the pre-existing brand, “The Art Coast of Michigan.” 
• The SCA resides on the very far side of town and, by making the structure a cultural center, instead of an industrial building, it has extended the reach of the town. It's allowed visitors to walk farther and has helped some businesses on the far side of the SCA to prosper because it's included them into the “walkable” downtown.
• The Saugatuck Center for the Arts is a cultural landmark. Not only has it provided an extremely popular arts venue, but it is now home to a professional year-round theater. The SCA is also used every year to host the Water Front Film Festival. Without the SCA, the film festival would probably have to move out of the area. The impact of the Festival leaving the area would be immeasurably detrimental to the economy and the pride of the town.
• Saugatuck reported in 2005:
  • There have been several meetings with representatives from the neighborhood school as well as with business leaders in the neighborhood. Also, we are working with several groups (Mason Street Warehouse Theater Group, Water Front Film Festival group, Convention & Visitors Bureau) to strengthen ties to our catalyst project.
  • The Cool City Advisory Group is working closely with a business leader who has indicated that he is interested in additional reinvestment in the neighborhood. This investment will lead to additional job creation / retention.
  • There have been two new business expansions in the neighborhood, creating six full-time-equivalent jobs.
  • Approximately $950,000 of local public investment has occurred in the neighborhood.
  • Approximately $2.2 million of private investment also has occurred in the neighborhood.
  • We have seen a continued improvement in property values. 
  • There has been an increase in residential units in the neighborhood.
  • “The Cool Cities designation for Saugatuck has been a source of community pride and national recognition. It is clear that the Cool Cities recognition has spurred individual investors to invest (or re-invest) in the neighborhood. During what has been described as a poor economic time for the state of Michigan, our neighborhood has continued to thrive.”