Where are they now? Catch up on what happened to those Cool Cities grantees

Karen Gagnon.JPGKaren Gagnon

GRAND RAPIDS — The woman in charge of Michigan's Cool Cities initiative admits there was skepticism about the whole idea.

"Government can't mandate cool," Karen Gagnon says with a laugh. "As soon as government says something is cool, it's not."

But people all over the state who took advantage of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's project to revitalize Michigan's cities knew cool — and made it happen, says Gagnon, project manager of the Cool Cities project.

From the hip Uptown area of Grand Rapids to an old pie factory-turned-arts center in Saugatuck to an addition to the funky Eastern Market in Detroit, Michigan cities are more vibrant now, she says.

Granholm started the project in 2003, as part of an economic plan to bolster the state’s economy.

The plan: Make our cities vibrant and cool, and they’ll attract and retain more talent, hopefully slowing the “brain drain” of college graduates from the state.

Before any money was awarded, Granholm’s office sent out surveys to individuals and cities in 2003 asking, “what’s cool?” They got 14,000 responses, Gagnon says.

“We said, ‘Wow, here’s proof. Place matters.’ More than half of the young people surveyed said they would choose a place before a job.”

Nineteen Cool Cities pilot projects received catalyst grants in 2004 of up to $100,000 and had access to more than $100 million in state grants, loans and other resources.

What came out of it? Cities spiffed up their facades, created community art centers, added zip to their night life. “It was about encouraging creativity,” Gagnon says. “Creating places where people want to live.”

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Some examples:

• Creative, arty types are living and working in hip loft apartments in Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids’ Avenue of the Arts project along Division Avenue. The project includes the historic renovation of seven buildings, streetscape improvements, the creation of public art, murals, and the development of 35 live/work apartments with lots of natural light and big sinks for washing out paint brushes. The apartments are “so cool I had to move into one,” says Jenn Schaub, with the neighborhood revitalization project at Dwelling Place.

• Grand Rapids’ Turner Gateway Project revitalized a stretch of Turner Avenue NW west of U.S. 131, creating an inviting gateway into the city with gardens and spruced-up business facades. A rain garden catches runoff from nearby highways, naturally filtering the water before it hits the Grand River. A colorful mural adds zest nearby. Nola Steketee, executive director of the West Grand Neighborhood Organization, which oversees the project, was in tears when a struggling young mother told her how much she enjoyed the fresh peaches at the neighborhood’s farmer’s market.

• The Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association-Grandville Avenue Renovation Project restored the red brick Engine House No. 12 that was purchased for $1 by the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan to serve Hispanic newcomers arriving in West Michigan..

• In Saugatuck, an old pie factory was renovated to become a new center for the arts, home to a children’s film festival, a greenmarket for Michigan farmers and food artisans and a hip global cultural festival. “I love what Saugatuck did,” Gagnon says. “It’s fantastic. It’s won all kinds of national awards.”

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Gagnon recently attended a ribbon cutting for a pocket park in the New Center area of downtown Detroit, part of an effort to create a 24/7 vibrancy. She loves the permanent stage canopy that converts to an outdoor movie screen.

The Hunter Park Project in Lansing created a “hoop house” to foster year-round production of fruits and vegetables and house a neighborhood-based community-supported agriculture project.

Studio 1219 in Port Huron is a rehabbed 1880s building turned into a community gallery space and artist work rooms, the largest public art facility in Michigan’s thumb.

“When you’re talking about $100 million investment in a neighborhood, $100,000 is not much,” Gagnon says of the state’s catalyst money. But once a city got “Cool City” designation, it made it easier for projects to get additional funding, she says.

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A Cool Cities designation brought with it a variety of "tool box" items, including more than 75 of the state's community improvement grant, loan and assistance programs.
"The Cool Cities designation had more value than the $100,000," Gagnon says. "It generated buzz."

But more than buzz is needed to keep a project afloat. There’s already one Cool City casualty.

The SmartShop Metal Arts Center in Kalamazoo, a 2004 Cool Cities grant project, announced last month it has to close, citing the poor business climate. The nonprofit metalworking school and art gallery didn’t get the broad audience it needed.

“It’s sad,” Gagnon says. “They did great things there.”

Was it a waste of $100,000? “Absolutely not,” she says. “It was called a catalyst grant for a reason, and SmartShop was a catalyst for downtown Kalamazoo. The value of that far exceeds $100,000. Catalysts don’t always continue.”

It’s tough to judge the success of the Cool Cities initiative in numbers, Gagnon says. It isn’t a jobs program, so you don’t look there for proof. She can say the $1.9 million in catalyst grants helped leverage $350 million from other sources that went into improving 19 Michigan neighborhoods, making them cooler.

She also points to Michigan's climb in the State New Economy Index, released by the Kauffman Foundation, which ranks states in their preparedness for the new global economy. Michigan ranks 17th in the nation in preparedness for the new global economy, she says. The state ranked 22nd in 2002 and 34th in 1999.

Now, Gagnon hopes the buzz of these spiffed-up places will continue to grow.

"You can do all you want to build a place, but you have to tell the stories," Gagnon says. "We're talking about the whole image of Michigan. We are not the rust belt anymore.
"How do you change someone's image of a place? It's little successes."

E-mail thamilton@grpress.com

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