MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission approved an amendment to the Marquette General Hospital Brownfield Plan at their meeting on Monday evening.

The commission unanimously voted to amend the Brownfield reimbursement plan at the old hospital location on 420 W. Magnetic St. In order to meet the desired density and investment, integrated parking needs to be built to align with the multi-use plans that the site’s owner, the Veridea Group, has for the property. Due to the high costs associated with building integrated parking, it would threaten the financial viability of the development without Brownfield Tax Increment Financing support.

The Veridea Group requested an amendment to the Brownfield Plan Eligible Activity Budget to shift from abatement and demolition to integrated parking. The requested costs for integrated parking are estimated to be $5 million lower than the original total Brownfield Plan budget. City Manager Karen Kovacs will prepare a development agreement that includes a 15-year period for private TIF reimbursements for review at a subsequent meeting.

“I like this specifically because it doubles the investment on the property by switching these funds and it doesn’t extend the length of the Brownfield that we had at all,” said Marquette City Mayor Jessica Hanely. “We get a significantly higher taxable value in the end for the same amount of time. I think that this, to me, was a no-brainer, in allowing for this to happen and allowing for a much larger build out on the top of the property.”

Meetings for the Marquette City Commission are held on the second and last Mondays of each month unless noted otherwise. Their next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Oct. 14 and will take place in the city commission chambers at city hall, located at 300 W. Baraga Ave.

More information about the Marquette City Commission can be found online at marquettemi.gov/commission.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.