The 906 Adventure Team plans a new “base camp” along Lakeshore Boulevard for an office building and a bicycle playground. Group gatherings such as this one are part of the nonprofit organization’s mission. (Photo courtesy of Todd Poquette)

MARQUETTE — The 906 Adventure Team is planning a “base camp,” as the Director of Adventure Todd Poquette called it, along Lakeshore Boulevard in Marquette.

The 906 Adventure Team is a nonprofit that, according to its website, is “empowering people to become the latest version of themselves through outdoor adventure, “ with bicycling a focus.

The property, Poquette said, is 2.5 acres with a 2,000-square-foot single-level building that will act as the office — or the “base camp” — for staff operations.

That term often is used for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, but locally, it will focus on community adventure.

“We’ll have the ability to have workshops, classes, things we haven’t been able to do where we are,” Poquette said.

The team has been based at his home in Harvey, and has been looking for new property for five years, he said.

“This one didn’t come on our radar until four weeks ago,” Poquette said.

In September, the Marquette Planning Commission denied a special-use request for a proposed 107-room extended-stay Home 2 Suites by Hilton at 955 Lakeshore Blvd. Many people had voiced their opinions against the project, plus the planning commission indicated that it denied the permit because it did not meet the intent of the zoning district. It also said the project was deemed incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

In fact, Poquette said the possibility of a hotel built on the land and the negative community reaction brought the property to the team’s attention.

Sitting in a deer blind this season, he said, gave him the opportunity to ruminate on the project.

“We have to find a property,” Poquette said. “I don’t know where it is, but we need a place to call home because we’re growing.”

He stood in the green space in the Lakeshore Boulevard property and thought, “This is the spot. I don’t know how it fell in our lap after five years of looking.”

The planning commission, Poquette said, doesn’t have to approve the 906 Adventure Team project because its mission fits in with the mixed-use zoning district. Parker & Sons Contracting, a local developer based in Marquette, now owns the property.

Poquette said the exact cost of the project is not yet known, but once the bicycle playground is built, the estimated cost, including the building, is $1 million. The team hopes to close on the property and the building in March,

“We’ll immediately move in and work from base camp,” Poquette said. “We won’t start on the bicycle playground build-out for probably several months because we want to take some time and be intentional about the way we design it, make sure that we can put it to the best use.”

Poquette said the team has enough money for a down payment, with financing from a local bank approved.

“People ask, ‘Why does a nonprofit buy a property like this?’ Well, we have always been looking forward to what we want to accomplish while we’ve been running the programs, building out, adding youth programs across nine communities in three states, supporting trails with generous donations,” he said.

However, the organization had money earmarked for the next step, and has been frugal with its finances, he said.

“We knew if we continued to grow, we’re going to need a home,” Poquette said. “If you need a home, you need money, and the last thing we want to be doing when we find the right place is then sitting there — ‘OK, where are we going to get the money from?'”

Poquette called the two-acre green space a “blank canvas” similar to its bicycle playground at Tourist Park.

That park was created as a partnership between the 906 Adventure Team and the Noquemanon Trail Network.

“It’s in that ethos, but much larger,” he said of the new project. “We really see this green space as being a community-building space. This is going to be a place that east Marquette or the residents of Marquette can very easily access from their home.”

In fact, Poquette said the organization made the purchase to preserve that green space.

“We’re in a position to buy it,” Poquette said. “We’re in a position to protect it, and then once we close on it, then it’s going to be OK. What is going to be the best use of this space that is in direct correlation with our mission?

“And our mission is to empower people, particularly the youth, to discover the best version of themselves through outdoor adventure.”

The park space, he pointed out, will be geared toward all youth in Marquette County having fun and challenging themselves — and it’s something they can accomplish with their families.

The Lakeshore project, Poquette said, will be open to the public. That includes the building, which is important because he acknowledged that most of the community is not part of the core cycling community.

“So, there is a huge barrier of information. What bike do I buy? What helmet do I buy? Where should I go?” Poquette said. “All of these questions. That’s what our organization is built to do — is to help bridge that gap and remove barriers for families, for kids, for single people who don’t know where to go.”

He believes the proximity to other trails, such as the city of Marquette multiuse path, is another bonus. Another example is the pedestrian corridor running along the property and tying directly into the Noquemanon Trail Network north of the David and Thu Brule YMCA of Marquette County.

“Accessibility to this space for everybody is just phenomenal,” Poquette said. “There is literally not a thing we can find wrong with it. That’s why it’s so mind-blowing that it’s available to get it. Why didn’t we think of it before?”

For more information on the 906 Adventure Team, visit https://906adventureteam.com.