BAY CITY, MICHIGAN REDEVELOPER WINS HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARD FOR HER FIRST PROJECT

A quest to bring this Romanesque lady back to life

You know how people think of ships and cars as female? That’s the way I think of buildings.

So my heart was broken a year ago when I first stepped out onto the catwalk suspended three stories above Washington Avenue between the former Chemical Bank’s “cheese grater” facade and the beautiful, 1890s architecture.

All I could think about was how her original beauty, no longer valued, had been covered up and hidden away. How she hadn’t felt the sunlight on her face for over 50 years.

I know the bank’s board of directors in 1959 had the best of intentions when they chose to cover the original masonry with a contemporary metal façade. They were trying to modernize her, make her current and efficient and updated.

When I was first asked to take a look at the building, I hoped for the worst. To be honest, other developers and professionals had tried for over a year with no luck to find a use and business plan that would work. In my mind, she was too far gone. Who was I to save her? 

But I just couldn't forget about her. 

By last April, I’d decided to move ahead with the redevelopment of the once-hidden treasure we now call The Legacy. When completed in 2018, the five-story building will house 26 residential apartments and three commercial spaces at the corner of Center and Washington in downtown Bay City – her home for nearly 130 years.

My apologies for her appearance

I know many of you are tired of looking at the hodgepodge of partially removed metal facade that’s graced this building for the last six months.

But because The Legacy is located in a historic district, more than 50 years old, but  not registered individually, we had to jump through some special hoops.

The National Park Service wanted to make sure the property would contribute to the historical district and needed to review her history and relation to other downtown buildings. It was up to the National Park Service to dictate which architectural facade contributed more to the downtown: the original masonry or the metal façade?

When I received notice we’d need to remove a portion of the white façade in order to send photos to the National Park Service, one of my first thoughts was “how long before we can remove the rest?”

But redeveloping old buildings and working through incentive programs such as historic preservation take quite some time. 

In December, our renovation plans were sent off to the State Historic Preservation Office and later the National Park Service. On March 13, we received word we could begin.

The big reveal is slated for May

And while she looks rather abandoned, we’ve been busy working inside.  

Our development team signed Quinn Evans Architects, which immediately began laying out spaces for her next life. Asbestos removal inside is nearly complete.  And Spence Brothers is mobilizing an army of local subcontractors to renovate it from top to bottom.

When the rest of the facade is removed in May, I hope you’ll believe in this beauty's potential as much as we do. She’s about to undergo a major facelift. Repairing exterior masonry will be a huge job. Then we’ll need to add masonry back to the lower levels. Finally, The Legacy will have proper historic windows.

It won't happen overnight. We have a lot of work to do. 

Often there were days – and still are days – when I doubt our ability to resurrect this icon.  But the team we've assembled and the plans we’ve created are stellar. My goal is to focus on executing it to the best of my ability. It's one of the most difficult projects imaginable, given the level of interior and exterior work required to bring her back. 

But in my heart I know that one day soon she won’t be lonely any longer. Dozens of people will call her home. Her main floor will be filled with thriving businesses.

And a busy downtown corner will be restored.

jen 

Times Loft reconstruction project wins Tax Credit Project Award

BAY CITY, MI -- Working at home one day, Jenifer Acosta saw her phone light up. She answered the call, hears the good news and is rushed with excitement. Acosta ran to her mother who was watching her children while she was working to tell her the news she just received. 

Acosta and her company, Jenifer Acosta Development, had just won an award for preserving a historic building in Bay City.

The Michigan Historic Preservation Network awarded Acosta the Tax Credit Project Award, an award that is given to "an outstanding building preservation completed within the past three years," for her preservation of the old Bay City Times office and flipping it into The Times Loft, a set of 31 completely different-looking luxury apartments.

To win the award, the project could have been either a restoration or rehabilitation project and had to include exterior rehabilitation work. It also was required to use federal or state tax credit programs.

"I called the owners (of the building) immediately (when I found out we won) and they were all shouting 'Woo hoo!'" Acosta said. "Being that it's my first development project since launching my company, I could not be more proud that it won a preservation award."

The unique thing about the building is that some of the historic context from when it was the home of The Bay City Times is still relevant.

"Converting a commercial building into residential is an adaptive reuse of the property," she said. "Incorporating preservation means keeping the character and historic elements of the commercial building and featuring them in the new residential use.

"We cleaned ink stains from tile and grout in the historic 1939 print press space and left it exposed. Some areas were industrial in finish to match the historic use as press space. Others that were office space kept a finished and non-industrial look."

Construction for The Times Lofts began in the summer of 2016 and was finalized last month. Some of the tenants at The Times Lofts are from outside Bay County, and some are even from outside the state. There are still five lofts available for lease, according to Acosta.

Those owners that Acosta called when she heard she had won the award, Rod Hildebrant and Matthew Meehan, were just as excited as she was when given the news of winning the award.

"This was Jenifer's first development, so it was pretty cool to have our work recognized," Hildebrant said. "We were ecstatic to take a historic building like the Bay City Times office and work with what he had. The community was very accepting of that product. And we aren't like most apartments. Other apartment would ask if you want a one bedroom or two bedroom model. For us, we have 31 different apartments to show you.

"We think Bay City is a great place to live and raise your family, so to receive an award for our work here is an honor."

Acosta, the CEO of Jenifer Acosta Development, was raised in Bay City. Having a passion for restoring old historic buildings, especially in downtown neighbors, helped her launch the successful Times Loft project.

"I'm a giant nerd who's happiest when I'm finding the highest and best use for a long-forgotten building," Acosta states on her website. "I love getting my hands dirty inside old buildings, unearthing architectural treasures and sharing them with folks who value the special things in life."

The Times Lofts wins Michigan Historic Preservation Award

BAY CITY (WJRT) - (03/14/17) - The Times Lofts is being honored for its outstanding rehab work and for honoring Michigan's heritage. 

The former home of the Bay City Times is now home to thirty one luxury apartments.

The Times Lofts won the tax credit award from The Michigan Historic Preservation Network for effective use of federal and local tax credits to restore historical buildings.

The owners Rod Hildebrant and Matthew Meehan say, “there is a considerable investment occurring right now in downtown. From new retail, restaurant, art galleries, and activities; we are excited to be a part of this revitalization." 

A little more than one month after its completion, the downtown building is not only beautiful, but it's fully rented out.

Advocating for Wenonah Park

I am invested in Bay City.

But that investment goes far beyond the money and jobs accompanying my development of The Times Lofts and The Legacy in downtown Bay City.

I am also invested as a staunch advocate for Bay City, a diehard volunteer who wants to build upon a solid base of arts and culture to encourage further development in the coming years.

But that growth requires an investment from you, too. It requires each of you to act in ways that encourage development and new ideas. That you act in positive ways that dispel the all-too-real perception that doing business in Bay City is a never-ending, uphill battle that’s just not worth the headache.

Today our investment is in Wenonah Park.

Let me be clear: I emphatically support the construction of the Wenonah Park Pavilion. As a member of the Board of Directors for the Bay City Downtown Management Board, I was thrilled several years ago when the concept first emerged as a way to encourage downtown activity during the long winter months.

To hear later that the project stood a chance --  that funds were available -- I jumped for joy. I believed then and I believe now that the pavilion offers a set structure for events, easily available with the necessary facilities the park currently lacks: restrooms, baby changing stations, ADA accessibility, and shade.

In Bay City, we don’t have a university or a hospital downtown to stabilize us. But we do have arts and culture. This stabilizes our market and adds a vibrancy lacking in other nearby cities. The entertainment we’ve enjoyed for decades in Wenonah Park is exactly what small towns everywhere wish they had. That’s made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of the Bay Arts Council and now the State Theatre to offer a broad range of summer programs, many of them free of charge.

I believe the Pavilion is an investment in families who attend free events each summer in Wenonah Park … families who want to leave their problems at home and enjoy a festive night in the park making memories in their hometown.

I believe the Pavilion is an investment in attracting more feet on the street -- and how those feet support our small businesses each and every day.

I believe the Pavilion is an investment in fiscal responsibility. If approved by the Bay City Commission, the State Theatre, DDA and Bay City would come together in a partnership to leverage private funds and create more change. These partners have spent the last year listening to public feedback, tweaking the design, incorporating priorities, and working through a collaborative process. 

In conclusion, I ask each of you to continue investing in economic development efforts such as the Wenonah Park Pavilion.

Because people are watching.

Every tenant for The Legacy asks whether the pavilion and park upgrades will happen. They want it. They want it to help revitalize Center Avenue. The Times Lofts tenants are all looking forward to living in the heart of downtown this summer.   

Developers, investors, and foundations are watching, too. And they’ll remember which cities support and encourage growth and vibrancy, and which ones turn their backs on investment.  

-jen

Sharing a vision with your stakeholders is key

Redeveloping the 127-year-old Crapo Building located in the heart of downtown Bay City, Mich., began with a business plan one year ago.

Every good business plan should clearly outline the key stakeholders needed to bring a project to fruition. That’s because unless you’re building something entirely at your own risk using personal cash or credit, there’ll be other stakeholders in the mix: local government, banks, investment partners and end users, just to name a few.

This building’s redevelopment would cost an estimated $12 million. Given local real estate market dynamics, it would be worth $6 million when completed. Financially, the smartest choice was tearing it down and rebuilding something new in its place. 

Around the same time, I was taking an asset strategy course at New York University and used the Crapo Building business plan for my class project. My professor called me crazy …  a masochist! Why take on a project so difficult when property values would never justify the investment, he asked.

Nevertheless, I persisted.  I knew that if I could find the right mix of stakeholders and partners, we could close that investment gap.

Stakeholders are the foundation of any building project. So it’s not just important to know and respect your stakeholders, it’s important that you share a vision.

This shared vision trickles into each and every detail of a project. For instance, we recently discovered ornate, cast-iron structural columns buried beneath the drywall of the Crapo Building. Unearthing these columns was a gift – and a challenge.

Yes, we could feature these unique, original details in the building’s apartments. The State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service (both stakeholders) would appreciate that idea. Future tenants (stakeholders) would appreciate the character and history of the building. But the cast iron columns require fire rating in order to protect the safety of the tenants, according to the building codes of the local government (another stakeholder, you guessed it). And the paint on the columns contained high concentrations of lead.

Another option was to enclose the columns inside fire-rated drywall. The National Park Service would understand. Future tenants would sip coffee near a wall or column never knowing the character hidden beneath. 

But our stakeholders shared the vision of showcasing this iconic building’s original details and that’s what guided us in finding a solution. With fire-rated paint, we can now feature many of these amazing columns and satisfy all the stakeholders at the same time. It’s costly: Certified abatement specialists need to sandblast the columns to remove the lead.

Refurbishing a historic building like this is a bit crazy and definitely masochistic. But the best things in life don’t come easy. Knowing your partners have your project’s best interests at heart definitely makes things a whole lot easier.

-jen

Why I chose to shift to a personal brand

I have no interest in growing a huge development firm.

This was my aha moment at the end of 2016. I came to the realization that if I built a development firm, I would take on more projects (yay!), more risk (nay), and, if successful, would spend more time managing other people’s work rather than doing the work myself.

As the child of two entrepreneurs, I've witnessed the demands of growing businesses. I, too, am an entrepreneur. And if I want to keep my flexibility and freedom, that means I needed to find my own path. 

When I launched my company in 2015, I’d planned on the development firm as a side business. I had no clue I'd be leaving my day job or embarking on this amazing journey for the last 18 months. In fact, when I first launched my development company, I was such an unknown quantity that no one would even give me the time of day when I requested to look at the vacant Crapo Building (former home of Chemical Bank in downtown Bay City).

So as I approached 2017, a lot had changed: I’d transitioned to a full-time developer. The Times Lofts was close to completion. Found a way to redevelop the bank property.  Plus overcoming countless obstacles along the way.

But I also realized I’d done a poor job marketing or establishing my business. You could ask anyone in town what The Neighborhood Development Co. does and they’d say, "Who?" But if you asked them who Jenifer Acosta was, you'd probably hear, "Oh she’s the one redeveloping The Bay City Times building." Or, "That's the person who saved the bank building." Better yet: "When the heck is she going to take the rest of the cheese grater down!" or "Can she develop anything without a tax break?"

Long story short, I'm better known by own name than by my firm’s name. 

I'm known for being a person who takes on transformative and catalytic projects regardless of the hurdles. And I proudly stand behind that reputation. 

I believe in character: Buildings with character. People with character that comprise awesome communities. I look at things from this broad scale into the finer scale of how a building fits into its block and its neighborhood and its community. Then down to the details that make it significant: glossy paint, moldings, hardware and materials. I geek out over urbanism and preservation. 

By marketing my personal brand, I’m hoping to have the flexibility to continue being hands-on and hip-deep doing the work I love. And to raise my kids because – you guessed it – I love them, too.

If I'm doing the exact same work in 20 years and still hands-on, building by building, I can’t imagine anything better. Each project and building will add its own unique challenges. Bringing together different teams of investors, contractors and partners keeps the collaboration unique as well.

But the constant will always be my focus on quality and character.

The backbone of my development philosophy is a triple bottom-line approach:

1. Community:  Projects must contribute to the greater good – and historic preservation is a major tenet of this belief. Restoring a forgotten building and making it into a source of pride makes a big impact in any community.

2. Sustainability: Buildings are the No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions. So when you retrofit existing buildings with modern technology, you reduce their negative environmental impact. The bonus is that it is also less CO2 offset during construction. Even with new construction, though, I believe in the concept of infill development, or building within existing infrastructure. 

3. Feasibility: Yes, it’s important that development also makes financial sense. I strongly believe in doing well, while also doing good.

As I move forward in 2017, I intend to master staying hands-on with each new project, while also maintaining my core values and beliefs.

- jen

In the News: Historic Bay City bank building has a contractor, architect and a restaurant

With a general contractor and award-winning architect secured, a historic bank building in the heart of downtown Bay City is nearly ready for a grandiose redevelopment.

Last month, Jenifer Acosta, the developer looking to transform the 125-year-old Crapo building at Center and Washington avenues into a multi-use structure with residential apartment rentals and commercial space, hired Saginaw-based Spence Brothers as the project's general manager. Quinn Evans Architecture, the same firm that designed renovations to Bay City Hall following a 2010 fire, was also hired for the redevelopment project...