Golf Course Is Out, Coast Guard Is Out to Lunch, and Huron Earth Deli Will Serve Lunch No Longer

LOOKS LIKE WE can cross one of Duke LifePoint's options off the list.

The Marquette Golf Club Board Wednesday morning voted to cut off all negotiations with DLP regarding a possible location for the new Marquette General Hospital.

Duke LifePoint, at last word, had been considering half of the Heritage course as one of its three options for relocation. But communication between the golf club and DLP over the last few weeks had gone silent and DLP's last offer to the club had been woefully inadequate.

Not only that, but the ongoing negotiations and gossip had upset the club membership and some of the surrounding neighbors. So, the board said, Enough.

Which apparently leaves DLP with two sites left on its list: 1) the 42 acres behind the Westwood Mall in Marquette Township, and 2) the Roundhouse property on the western fringe of downtown Marquette.

Maybe there's some unpublicized, darkhorse candidate out there. Who knows? We should have an answer by the end of this month.
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REMEMBER THAT GREAT property trade that Marquette made with the US Coast Guard several years back?

You know, the one in which the city got almost nine acres of coastal property for a public park, and the Coast Guard, in return, received one and a half acres on which to build their fancy new station.

Worked out great. The Coast Guard immediately built their $5 million, 6000 square foot facility in 2009 and opened it up to rave reviews, and the city...well...uh...the city...well, it seems that the city, you know...

The city still doesn't have squat.

Five years later, the city still doesn't have ownership of the property. It's fenced off. "No trespassing" signs abound.

Why the delays? Last year's government shutdown is one supposed reason. Whatever. That reason's getting old.

The government has determined that before the city takes ownership, the lighthouse and the other buildings on the property need to be repainted to encapsulate the old lead-based paint. Okay. That should take...what?...two or three weeks?

The real reason for the delay apparently is government bureaucracy. Despite pressure from our elected representatives, the Coast Guard clearly has not made this a priority. We all love the Coast Guard and appreciate what it means to Marquette, but clearly five years should be more than enough time to complete a deal. A deal was made and a promise was made but neither so far has been honored.
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HOW WOULD YOU like to work 70 hours a week and not earn a paycheck?

Welcome to the world of Andrew Sear, the owner and chef at Paladino's Café at the Peter White Public Library.

He, along with a tiny staff, has been at it for three months now turning out what most consider to be remarkably tasty and inventive food. Eclectic. Fusion. Local produce, local meat. Farm-to-table.

Problem is, it's a tiny café with a limited clientele and limited revenue even as its catering business grows. Thus, so far no paycheck for Sear. He's paying the bills, that's all.

So what's the plan?

He's looking to grow--start another Paladino's, a larger café-deli, preferably in Marquette but he's not ruling anything out. He's looking for investors, people with money who believe in his food and his vision. That hardly makes him unique, but you can't fault him for trying and dreaming and working 70 hours a week.

This week's special, by the way, is the Hot Mess which includes roasted pork, pickled red onions, kimchee, Michigan brie and bread. Yeah, that would be fusion. And eclectic.
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NOT TO PLAY middle man in all this, but a venue Sear and his angel investors might be considering is the building on Third Street currently housing Sweet Basil and MacDonald's Music Store.

If you passed by in the last week, you couldn't help but notice the For Sale sign on the building. The sign is roughly the size of a minivan.

Great location. It also includes four apartments. Two showings so far. $349,000.

As for Sweet Basil, business owner Shelly Morley says she'll either stay in the current location, or move it elsewhere in town if the new building owner asks her to move. But Sweet Basil, which has built a substantial catering business over the years, is not going away.
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ON THE OTHER hand, the Huron Earth Deli on South Third Street is going away.

The little café and deli tucked away into a mostly residential neighborhood is shutting down a week from this Friday. A shame. Good, wholesome high quality food here.

What this tells you is that even if you work hard and offer a great product, the profit margin in the restaurant business is tiny, sometimes non-existent. For every Vango's, there are a dozen good restaurants that go under within a couple of years.

The Huron Earth Deli building is up for sale at $325,000, but there appears to be a very interested owner from out-of-state. Another restaurant? We'll have to wait and see.
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THE BAYOU IN Harvey is now brewing its own suds under the brand name Chocolay River Brewery.

After a series of delays, the beer is now flowing under the direction of brewmaster Grant Lyke.

Here's what they have to offer so far:
   Bayou Blonde Ale
   Blueberry Wheat
   Gitchigoomie Black Ale
   Shot Point Wheat
   Rock Cut American Pale Ale

Needless to say, a distinctly local flavor.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

If you want to receive Word on the Street as soon as it's posted, go to "Word on the Street by Brian Cabell" on Facebook and  "like" it.

Cliffs Demotion, Clark's Devotion, and a Bloody Mary Potion

Talk about a slap in the face.

The U.P.'s favorite mining company, Cliffs Natural Resources, got word last week that, effective April 1st, it will no longer be listed on the prestigious S&P 500 stock exchange.

It's being demoted down to the S&P midcap 400. That's an exchange that, frankly, most casual investors have never even heard of.

Why the demotion? Cliffs is just not worth as much as it used to be, what with its stock price struggling to climb above $20.

Anybody remember the days when the conventional wisdom around here was you'd never lose on Cliffs stock, and you'd likely get rich on it? Yeah, well, times have changed.

The stock price has been languishing for years, Cliffs management just recently had to deal with hostile takeover attempt by an activist hedge fund, and now the company's been booted down to the minor leagues of stock exchanges.

The good news in all this? The Empire mine is staying open and the U.P. is keeping hundreds of well-paying jobs. At least for now.
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Clark Park--or the Clark Lambros Beach Park as it will officially be known--is one step closer to reality.

Both the state senate and the house have now passed appropriations bills that include funding of the park. Minor differences in the bills have to be ironed out, which should be no problem, and then the bill goes to Governor Snyder for his signature.

It's a helluva deal for Marquette, thanks to longtime businessman Clark Lambros, who died more than a year ago, and his partner, Michele Butler.

Clark wanted the park. Michele is making it happen.

With the help of the DNR Trust Fund, Clark and Michele are giving 17 acres of property at the confluence of the Dead River and Lake Superior to the city. Twelve of the acres will go the park; the adjacent five acres will go to a trail system.

Seventeen acres worth somewhere around $1.5 million. Yeah, that's a nice little gift.

It'll include rest rooms, showers, a pavilion, picnic tables, barbeque grills and a kayak launch.

Planning and design details still have to be worked out with the city, but Butler hopes the project will be finished by late fall.

Lambros is one of those people who made Marquette the very special city that it is today.                                     
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That empty space at Peter White Public Library that Tu Kaluthia used to fill is getting a new tenant within a month.

The new café? Paladino's.

It'll be the creation of Andrew Sear, the current chef at the Irish Rover and former chef at Capers. He's planning on offering soups, salads, sandwiches, desserts and coffee.

Finally, after a four month hiatus, we'll have some nourishment and aromas at the library.

Sear, by the way, has even grander plans. He, along with roofer and developer Dan Perkins, is hoping to open up a "healthy comfort food restaurant" in Ishpeming within the year. The exact site is not yet determined.

Sear is also involved in plans for a multi-acre produce garden with green houses in Ishpeming.

Exciting plans. We'll see if they pan out.
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It's becoming the "it" spot to be on Sunday mornings.

The Northland Pub at the Landmark Inn has been offering Bloody Mary Sundays for the last few months--make-your-own-Bloody-Marys, along with a jazz duo from 11 to 3.

A great combination.

How do you make a Bloody Mary? Well, lessee, here are some of the ingredients: celery, carrots, pickled onions, pickled beans, pickled mushrooms, pickled asparagus, cheese, red and green peppers, fiery olives and bacon. Bacon? Hell yeah, drop a couple strips in your Bloody Mary.

Basically, it's a buffet to help you purge the demons from the night before.
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If you're not a sports fan, you probably haven't noticed, but ESPN UP, which is sports talk radio here, has made some changes lately.

Ryan Mayer is the lone host on the Sports Pen on weekday afternoons. It used to be two hosts who tried--often in vain--to engage listeners calling in. You kinda felt sorry for them because it was a beg-fest at times. Please call in! Here's our phone number for the 42nd time this hour!

Mayer says he's not going to beg.  He'll welcome calls if they come in but otherwise he'll rely on scheduled interviews with sports figures and journalists, as well as input from the audience via social media.

Is the new format successful? No way of knowing. Listener ratings in the UP are notoriously unreliable.

One thing ESPN UP does have to clean up, though, is its recorded one minute clips from previous shows that it continues to play over and over and over again. Two weeks ago, they played a clip from the Colin Cowherd show in which he rated his top 10 teams from midway through the NFL season. That was back in November!

A couple of days ago, they played a segment of an analyst back in January telling us who might win the gold medal in hockey in the Olympics.

Enough. Show some respect for your audience.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com