Portland, Mich. - Where the Looking Glass and Grand rivers meet, lies a small city with not so small dreams.
It's a city where the Chocolate Moose ice cream shop serves up mountains of cherry cheesecake dessert in waffle cones. It's a place where the city council has made sure almost every sidewalk leads somewhere, so kids can get to school without walking in the street.
There, young entrepreneurs could buy a three-story building from the city for $1 - if they promise to fix it up. And if you're lucky, you can catch the glimmer of happiness in a fisherman's eye, as he winds in his catch of the day near the town's own dam.
The people who live in the city of Portland think these one-of-a-kind qualities give their city a quaint, small-town feel that makes it a pretty cool place to live. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm agrees.
Portland city officials will join officials from 16 other communities today at Kellogg Center for a "Cool Cities" conference. There they will meet with state officials who will help them begin their journey to coolsville. The two-square-mile town of 3,789 people was the only Mid-Michigan city selected to receive a $100,000 "Cool Cities" grant from Granholm's pilot program.
"We were very excited when we heard that we were selected," said Marion Hilligan, the city's former mayor who also helped pen its "Cool Cities" application. "It's a huge honor, especially for a nice little city like ours. We think that we are going to make something really great and the state can then point to us as an example of a small, cool city."
Granholm's program, designed to boost the state's economy by keeping young professionals in Michigan, specifically targets the 24- to 35-year-old age group - a group that is leaving Michigan for traditionally cooler cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
The program offers chosen cities up to $100,000 in catalyst grants and access to $100 million in other state resources, such as law enforcement and transportation needs. Officials from 150 cities who applied for the grants had to demonstrate to a state panel what they wanted to do to draw the age group into their cities.
Portland past
Eight years before Granholm announced her pilot program, Portland officials decided their city needed some change. Whether people came for a day, a week or a lifetime, Portland needed to be a destination city for people of all ages.
"The council really wanted to make the city a vibrant community where people wanted to be," said Don Flanders, the city's director of economic development. "There was a real push for creating a feeling of change in our city."
City staff began applying for grants to spruce up their downtown. They developed the "Riverfront Redevelopment Plan," which has three phases. The plan was designed to redevelop the 67 storefronts, Portland City Hall and the city library, which frame the Grand River in the heart of the city's downtown.
For the first phase, the city secured about $300,000 from the state to build loft apartments above 12 stores downtown. Private developers began to build 24 condominiums near the downtown.
They converted an old railway bridge over the river into a pedestrian walkway, built a canoe launch and received some state funds to build a $150,000 band shell to host concerts. They spent another $1 million to connect their city sidewalks into eight miles of walkable trails so no sidewalk in the town dead-ends. And $2.8 million built them a new city hall, while $4 million in improvements to the library still are being implemented.
Portland Mayor Jim Barnes said using the state grants available was key to improving the city.
"Portland now has a reputation of making the most of the state grants available," he said. "Now everyone knows we are a livable community that has made major improvements over the last few years."
A 40,000 square-foot, three-story vacant building used to sit on the bank of the Grand River. Flanders said the building was an eyesore. Since the building, at 212 Kent St., sat in the center of the downtown, city officials felt it needed renovation. They sold the old building to Portland residents Ken and Kim Kramer, who bought it for $1.
"My husband always wanted to work in this building," Kim Kramer said. "We wanted to provide a space for service industries and investors."
Five years later, 15 businesses which employ 40 people operate out of the building. The Kramer's house their business, Portland Printing, on the top floor.
Kim Kramer said business is lucrative in Portland.
"This is a great spot for anyone who wants to start a business," she said. "We want certain small, niche businesses here to make our city more special."
Flanders said the Kramers are a good sample of the kind of entrepreneurs and young professionals city officials hope to attract to Portland.
"It is vastly important to continue the change in our demographic," he said. "These people are our city's future."
Portland present
Portland officials hope the changes they implemented will draw the "Cool Cities" target age group, 24 to 35-year-olds, to their city. So far Portland has managed to retain its young professionals while other Michigan areas are losing the demographic.
In 1990, 15.5 percent, or 631 people between 25 and 34-years-old lived in Portland. Throughout the decade, Portland's county, Ionia, began to see a decline in the age group. Between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 7.9 percent of the age group left Ionia.
But the numbers in Portland remained flat.
By 2000, 625 people in the age group lived in the city - meaning the city lost less than 1 percent of the group over the decade. The 25 to 34-year-old age group now makes up 16.5 percent of the town, according to U.S. Census data.
And if young professionals would rather work in a larger city than set up shop in town, Barnes said Portland is a great place to live. It's central location - about 30 minutes from Lansing and 45 from Grand Rapids - is what makes Portland attractive to young people, Barnes said.
"Portland has a small-town safety aspect and good public and private schools," he said. "It has all the amenities you want in a small town, but in close proximity to large towns. People can kayak, canoe and bike - they want to take full advantage of our natural resources."
Heidi Alvesteffer, 30, moved to Portland with her husband Andrew three years ago. She said she was attracted to Portland because of its location and safety.
"My husband's from a small town and I'm from Grand Rapids, so moving here was a good compromise for us," she said. "I thought it was a cute, little town and it's a really nice community. I can let my kids go outside and play and not have to worry. To know all my neighbors is really nice, too."
The influx of young professionals into Portland, and the city's hope to expand their downtown to attract even more, made Granholm's "Cool Cities" program ideal for Portland, Barnes said.
Barnes said phase two of their Riverfront Redevelopment Plan was appropriate for the "Cool Cities" program.
"We had a project in our back pocket that was ready to go," he said. "It was something that was well thought out and feasible and fit in well with Granholm's vision."
For phase two, officials want to build a 800-foot boardwalk along 12 of the downtown's businesses that line the Grand River. The 30-foot boardwalk would allow patrons to walk along the river or overlook the river while drinking espresso from one of the local coffee shops. The $670,000 project was outlined in the city's application for Granholm's program.
Hilligan said the application process was rigorous and cities had to be ready.
"There was a short window to get your plan done and you had to be prepared," she said. "We already had the boardwalk planned, but If you didn't have a project ready, it would be hard to do. They wanted plans, numbers and detailed information."
Barnes said Portland's history of using state funds and its ready-to-go project helped it stand out from the pile of other applications.
"The thing that set ours apart was the concept of walkability of the downtown and the reputation and successes we had in the past - they knew we would carry through," he said. "The state wants a result in the next two years and they put a lot of trust in the cities to do what they said they would."
Portland potential
With the boardwalk projected to be finished next spring, the city's residents said they know it will keep the downtown hip.
"It will be really cool," said Ashleigh Seal, 13. "Everyone will want to go down there and there will be a lot to do."
Kathy Parsons, owner of Grider-Portland Agency Inc., 310 Kent St., said the insurance company she bought three years ago might see a spike in business when the boardwalk is erected.
"I think it will make us the place to be," she said. "It will put us on the map and will be something unique that people can take notice of."
The $100,000 grant will pay for about one-sixth the cost of erecting the boardwalk and city officials said the "Cool Cities" initiative gives them an opportunity to secure even more state grants.
"What's great about the program is now we're at the front of the line for other state grants," he said. "They give you a list of state grants, and it's like a wish list that you can go down and apply first for."
City officials hope other grants will fund the entirety of the boardwalk, as well as help the city implement the third phase of their Riverfront Redevelopment Plan - paving a sidewalk from the boardwalk to the city's new library.
Hilligan said the city also hopes to build an art center out of two now vacant older homes, build more recreational facilities, such as a pool, and put some more apartments downtown.
"In our application we specified a lot of smaller projects we would try to do with the other grant money to make our city even cooler," she said. "I tell people to keep their eyes on us because we are going to be doing some wonderful things."
Though Granholm's program will improve their downtown, and city officials hope it will spark the interest of even more young professionals, Portland's current young professionals say the city was always a happening place to be.
"We've always known our city was cool," Parsons said. "Now the entire state knows it too."
Jaclyn Roeschke can be reached at roeschk1@msu.edu.
