New bank building to go in at old mall location

Dave Stensaas, planner and zoning administrator, city of Marquette
MARQUETTE — A new building for the Upper Peninsula-based First Bank will be constructed on an outlot of the former Riverside Auto Mall along U.S. 41.
The site plan review for the building was unanimously approved by the Marquette Planning Commission at an April 21 meeting.
The new First Bank building would be constructed as a two-story office building with a drive-thru at 2025 U.S. Highway 41. Construction is anticipated to begin this summer and conclude in 2021. The building will involve “primarily masonry construction with steel and wood trusses, and brick stone and metal panel cladding.”
The new location will replace First Bank’s existing branch along West Washington Street near the former ShopKo building.
Commissioner Michael Larson motioned to approve the site plan under certain conditions.
The conditions include that the amended plan must be submitted to meet all staff comments and responses with an understanding that the utilities on the parcel are the property of the developer and the developer will be responsible for maintaining them until a finished plan is presented, Larson said.
Furthermore, if water mains need to be relocated, the work necessary to conduct that may be at the developer’s expense.
The commission discussed concerns regarding the property’s water main, as it may have to be replaced.
“We would only be constructing what is relevant to the parcel, the bank parcel itself, but (plan) to design the entire system with the line movement,” project architect Peter Nagel of the Redmond Company said.
While this is the only project currently planned on the site, more development in that area is foreseeable, Marquette City Planner and Zoning Administrator Dave Stensaas said.
“That site was a huge single parcel and that parcel is being subdivided into smaller parcels for redevelopment. And this is the first part of that project, to redevelop the site,” Stensaas said. “So what’s there now is going to be a vastly different landscape once those parcels are redeveloped. The layout of the property is going to change dramatically with the re-parcelization. This isn’t just going to be a static development here with one building out in the middle of the parking lot for some indefinite period. I think there’s going to be some redevelopment there sometime in the near future.”
Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at jjahfetson@miningjournal.net.