IT WASN’T LONG ago that south Marquette looked like our Marijuana Mecca…Three cannabis shops had popped up within a few blocks of each other on US 41. Hallelujah! Lotsa pot for everybody! Big money for the growers and dispensers!…Well, check back, and you’ll now find that all three shops have closed down—the latest, Weed World, where a little For Sale sign now sits forlornly alongside the road.
So what happened? The price of cannabis plunged is what happened. Oversupply. Farmers feverishly growing more and more pot for a market that unexpectedly proved to be limited…According to Bridge Michigan, six years ago, an ounce was selling for something like $400; today, it’s priced closer to $60. That tends to reduce profitability and scare entrepreneurs away.
A recently imposed wholesale excise tax of 24% on cannabis hasn't helped, either.
FROM POT TO STOCKS…An Edward Jones office is moving into one of the those recently vacated marijuana shops at the corner of US 41 and Genesee. It’s a relocation from their Edward Jones office in Harvey…“We’re always looking for expansion, and we were just tapped out for space at our current office,” says financial advisor Scott Hendrickson. If the construction schedule holds, he and fellow advisor Mike Ansell will move into their new digs by July…Good news if they’re coffee drinkers—Cruisin’ Coffee is opening up next month right across the street, where another pot shop closed down several months ago.
THE ABANDONED BIOLIFE building in north Marquette has been sold…maybe. Marquette Alger Regional Education Service Agency (MARESA) has bought the building, but it’s not yet finalized while attorneys review the language of the purchase and the property. “We have agreed upon a purchase price for the building,” says Superintendent Dr. Greg Nyen, “but we want to make certain that the property it’s built on will allow the use we’re planning for the property.”…MARESA, which provides specialized training and education for young and old students, is currently renting classroom space at St. Michael Catholic Church…If the deal goes through, those classes would be moved to the new building at the Biolife site…
The likely sale is dismaying to City Manager Karen Kovacs. Biolife, as a private company, was paying taxes; MARESA, as a public entity, will not. “While we certainly support education services,” she says, “it's disappointing to have another tax revenue generating piece of property taken off the tax rolls again.” The Biolife tax revenue had been used for Brownfield-related activities such as groundwater monitoring on the neighboring Cliffs-Dow property. Now those funds will have to be found elsewhere in an already tight city budget.
LOVERS OF INDIAN food can celebrate. The owners of Marquette Masala, the tiny takeout restaurant in south Marquette, have decided to keep their business open year-round…They had previously planned to shut down for the summer. “We had everybody telling us ‘Please stay open!’ So that’s what we’re doing,” says Kyle Christian who, with partner Jacob Taylor, is serving up Indian delights such as Chicken Tikka Masala, Pork Vindaloo, and Biryani at their little shop…Thursday, Friday, and Saturday only, 4-8 pm.
CHRISTIAN AND TAYLOR are launching another business venture, as well—Marquette Brew Tours. A bus tour, for groups of up to 13 people, that stops at four breweries around town…45 minutes to an hour at each brewery, then moving on to the next one…Ideal for weddings, bachelor and bachelorette parties, reunions, etc. Will it succeed? A few years back, another group started something similar—pedaling the bus from bar-to-bar. It was cute, but it didn’t last…We’ll see.
AND STILL MORE news in south Marquette. The Courtyards, the charming, New Orleans-themed bar and restaurant that closed last year, remains up for sale, and the price has plummeted…It was originally listed for $2.5 million, but then dropped to $1.25 million…Now, according to RE/MAX, they’re asking $1.15 million…That includes not only the building, but also the equipment and furnishings…RE/MAX says the property has been appraised for $1.6 million…There’s gotta be a food-and-beverage guy or gal out there who’s willing to take the plunge.
DOCKSIDE MARINE IS no longer alongside the dock. The longtime Marquette boat repair and parts shop has moved to Harvey, just off of M-28…Why the move? Dockside had been leasing the building, but it was sold over the winter, forcing the move…What will go into the vacant building now? We’ve tried, so far without success, to talk to the new owner. Seems like a prime spot, right on the Lake.
SLOW BUT STEADY…People aren’t stampeding to move to Marquette, but they are coming…According to census figures, Marquette’s population now stands at just under 22,000—nearly a 1% increase over last year, and 4% over the last five years…Negaunee, Ishpeming, Marquette Township, and Chocolaty were also up, but only marginally…Both Detroit and Michigan overall also registered very slight gains.
THIS IS KINDA SCARY, and, frankly, almost unbelievable. According to Bridge Michigan, the cost of available homes in Petoskey has more than tripled in the last five years—from $310,000 to $1.1 million today. Homes for sale are rare there, occupancy rates are more than 99%…Yikes…Makes you appreciate what we have up here. Kind of…
SPEAKING OF MARQUETTE real estate, Zillow tells us that the average home here is now selling for about $330,000. That’s an increase of almost 9% in the last year, and a 46% increase since 2021 when the average home was selling for $218,000…So, it’s not exactly Petoskey-style inflation, but homes are appreciating at a robust rate…And the market—especially for the average three-bedroom-two-bath home—is hot. Even cut-throat.
“Buyers have got to be ready!” Frida Waara, a RE/MAX agent, tells us. “They need to have pre-approval with their lender and they need to limit their contingencies, although they do want to be assured of the condition of the house by a professional. But they’ve got to be fully prepared or they will lose out.” And sometimes, even that won’t be enough, because competitive bids are increasingly coming in with all-cash offers, and over-the-asking-price.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The best time to buy a home is always five years ago."
—Ray Brown
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