CLICK TO HEAR COMMENTS WITH JESSE HUFF, RRN
A large building that had sat vacant for years in downtown Escanaba is now filled with ten radio stations, a television station, and several other businesses.
The building at 1101 Ludington Street was purchased by our owners…Armada Media…and turned into the RRN Media Plaza.
RRN General Manager Jesse Huff says it has been a long process of remodeling and occupying the building.
“We haven’t had to do anything structurally to it, but we have had to do a lot of remodeling, a lot of painting, a lot of upgrades,” Huff said. “That’s been on-going for the last 12 to 18 months. The neat thing about the project is that we’ve been able to keep everything local. We’ve invested almost $1 million in the last two years. We’ve hired over 15 contractors and people that have come in and done the signs, and the framing for our artwork throughout the building, and the cool thing is, they’re all from Upper Michigan. So all of that money has stayed right here in the U.P., primarily Marquette and Delta Counties.”
The ten Radio Results Network stations had rented space elsewhere in Escanaba for the past 33 years, but that facility, about 3,300 square feet, became too small. This new facility is 21,000 square feet, or seven times the size of the rented space.
“We named it the Media Plaza intentionally, because we wanted more than just our network of ten radio stations here,” Huff said. “So, TV-6 has joined our building and they’re here with us. We’ve also added a therapist, ans Treetop Threads, a T-Shirt company, and Reflections Salon is here also. And we have room for four more tenants.”
Huff says everything has come together for the project gradually over the past year, with the radio network having more space, and being in the heart of downtown Escanaba.
“We wanted to own our own building,” he said. “We weren’t looking to be landlords, or to oversee other businesses, but the building lent itself to that, because of the size, and the opportunity.”
There will be a grand opening celebration from 5:00 until 10:00 Wednesday night and that event is open to everybody.
