Cut Ribbon? Check: The new hospital in Marquette got one step closer to officially opening for patients in early June, when the community celebrated with a ribbon cutting at 11 a.m. this morning. The UP Health Systems hospital in the city has been about eight years in the making, from concept to construction. A special VIP tour of the new $300 million, 265-bed state-of-the-art hospital and adjoining medical office complex, still in final construction stages, was given Thursday night. UPHS Market President and CEO Brian Sinotte talked with FoxUP about the new building and location, praising the location and construction as “patient-centric.” He also touted the artwork chosen for the new downtown structure. On the hospital’s Facebook page, a video shows UPHS-Portage CEO Randy Neiswonger touring the new space with UPHS regional director of marketing and business development, Victor Harrington, who also has been the leader on the artwork and signage, including a new history wall (being installed here) done in cooperation with Marquette Regional History Center.
And So It Begins: As of Monday (April 8), Duluth’s main downtown artery – Superior Street – will be closed to traffic from Lake Avenue to Third Avenue East as the city’s second phase of a massive street and underground utility reconstruction. Later, after Grandma’s Marathon on June 22, that closure will extend to Fourth Avenue East. The city and Greater Downtown Council hosted a final update before the closure on Monday, as reported in BusinessNorth. Concerns were again raised by business owners about access to their stores, especially for deliveries, which on the lake side will need to be done on Michigan Street. (Michigan Street, usually a one-way, will be a two-way during construction.) Residents of Greysolon Plaza, on the corner of Third Avenue East and Superior Street, also expressed apprehension about access to the building by emergency services and transportation vehicles for those with disabilities. For Duluth residents and visitors wanting to access the nearly two dozen shops, theaters, restaurants, pubs and hotels along those blocks, the city and contractors promise plenty of directive signage and constant updates on Google Maps. A website, Word on the Street, also offers continued updates on the Superior Street Reconstruction project. The city parking ramps along those blocks will remain open, but access will be via First Street. FYI for Lake Superior Magazine friends and family – this year’s “Season Two” of the project will include our gift shop and offices at 310 E. Superior St., though Superior Street in front of us does not close until after June 22. Like all the other businesses in our downtown neighborhood, we look forward to seeing you all summer, and plan some fun activities and good deals to make the trip worthwhile. The Superior Street work includes installation of improved utilities, such as an energy-efficient closed loop hot water heat system, and streetscape amenities to enhance pedestrian enjoyment.
U.P. Blast Off?: Two Upper Peninsula communities are in the running to become launching pads for satellite-carrying rockets, according to Darren Taylor for Northern Ontario Business. Kincheloe, 20 miles southwest of Sault Ste. Marie and home to the former Strategic Air Command Kincheloe Air Force Base, and Sawyer, south of Marquette, are in the running along with the below-the-bridge Michigan towns of Alpena and Grayling. “The Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association has been seeking investors and federal permission for the proposed $80-million spaceport – being billed as the Michigan Launch Initiative – that would launch rockets carrying commercial satellites and also handle the takeoff and landing of airplanes that drop rockets that shoot into space,” Darren reports. (This old photo of a B-52H bomber being serviced at Kincheloe was used in a Michigan Technological University story about the base's mechanics.) According to the initial description of the Michigan Launch Initiative, selection of a facility site will come in the second quarter of this year with groundbreaking by 2021 and first launch by 2022. JC Reindl of the Detroit Free Press wrote of the initiative in March, noting that funding for the site search was first in and then eliminated because of “drafting errors” from a state funding bill. In our Lake Superior Magazine State of the Lake Special Report on aviation in 2015, we spoke to a few astronauts from this region, including Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space, and Col. Jeffrey Williams, who grew up on a farm near Winter, Wisconsin.
Ever-Ready Hydro: Michigan Technological University researchers and the town of Negaunee are partnering to see if the region’s abandoned mines might become future depositories of hydro-energy storage. “Researchers hope the study, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will demonstrate a potentially transformative technology system — underground pumped hydro storage — for the regional economy in post-mining communities throughout the Lake Superior mining areas,” UPMatters.com reports. The Michigan Tech researchers on the project, Tim Scarlett and Roman Sidortsov, presented their findings on converting abandoned mines into electrical energy storage at a recent Plugging into Storage conference in Lansing, Michigan. The conference is hosted by the Michigan Agency for Energy and the Michigan Public Service Commission. Tim is an associate professor of archaeology and anthropology while Roman, a former practicing attorney in Russia, is assistant professor of energy policy. Pumped hydro storage uses standing water at a higher elevation to flow through a turbine to generate electricity on demand. “In Negaunee’s case,” reports UPMatters.com, “the storage facility would use surplus power to pump water up to a certain elevation. When demand outpaces power supply, the water runs down into turbines, which then generate electricity.” This old photo, from the Michigan Tech webpage “Mine Shafts of Michigan,” shows the old shaft at the Negaunee Mine. According to the site, “More than 800 underground mines were developed in Michigan.”
Ferry Away: Last weekend, Madeline Island Ferry Line launched its ferry service for the season, keeping to the reduced “Breakup” schedule until May 2. Here the Island Queen negotiates through a bit of ice at the launch. The launch, noted on the ferry line Facebook page, generated many comments of celebration and support, including: “Watching the start from Florida brings a smile to our faces! Hello Spring!” Hey, safe to come home now, all snowbirds! Well, mostly.
Good Thyme in Italy: Good Thyme Restaurant & Catering in Washburn, Wisconsin, will be closed until 5 p.m. April 25 while its staff (seen here) takes on a “foodie adventure” in southern Spain. The trip centers at the La Finca del Nino (Farm of the Child) in Benajarafe. “We are so excited. It’s going to be an amazing and inspirational trip,” owner Renee Holman mentions in a post. The crew promises updates on their Facebook and Instagram pages, and we suspect some Spanish influence to show up in some menu items back home in Wisconsin.
Photo & graphic credits: UPHS-Marquette; Ron Brochu/BusinessNorth; U.S. Military archival photo; Michigan Tech; Madeline Island Ferry Line; Good Thyme