CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH RYAN ENGLE, MICHIGAN VETERANS HOMES
It’s full speed ahead for the building of a new Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Marquette. The State of Michigan is paying $34.2 million to build the new home, and the federal government will spend $63.4 million on the project, as announced in the 2023 budget.
State officials were on hand earlier this week for a community forum at Northern Michigan University, where an update on the progress of the project was shared. Ryan Engle, the director of development and strategic engagement for Michigan Veteran Homes, told RRN News that the project is on schedule, with hopes of breaking ground next year.
“It’s transformational for the long-term care of veterans in the Upper Peninsula,” Engle said. “It’s going to be 157,000 square feet, with 108 private bedrooms, private bathrooms. A large community center. And a skilled nursing facility for veterans, made up of six different households and three different neighborhoods. So, we’re very excited about it.”
So, where are they at in the process?
“We are in site exploration and design,” Engle said. “We are actively looking at that one site (along Lakeshore Boulevard) in Marquette, specifically, and we’re going through environmental testing on that site.”
Did they consider buying the old Marquette General Hospital campus, and using that for a new Jacobetti home? Engle says no.
“That’s been brought up in the past,” he said. “But one thing we are moving away from, and one of the reasons we decided to move out of our existing facility, is that we want to be a homelike environment. We want to get away from that hospital-like setting.”
Engle says if the environmental and other considerations go well on that site, then they could have groundbreaking some time in 2024, and actually open the facility to veterans in 2027 or 2028.
The site under consideration right now is the former Cliffs-Dow site, which has been the subject of environmental concerns in the Marquette community for years. Engle says that’s why they’re being deliberate in the early stages of this project.
“There’s a lot of concern from the community, and, I think, legitimate questions,” Engle said. “People want to know where we’re at in that process with building on that site, and we should know more in a couple of months. We just want to make sure we do this right.”
The state has already built new veteran homes in Grand Rapids, as well as in Macomb County’s Chesterfield Township.
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