JACKSON, Mich. — The vacant Hayes Hotel in downtown Jackson has been sold to a Milwaukee developer, J. Jeffers and Company for $25,000.
Plans call for the company to develop the hotel into a mixed-use space with 25 studio apartments, 46 one-bedroom apartments and 20 two-bedroom apartments.
According to the developers, the first floor could be home to a retail establishment or a restaurant.
Public Information Officer Aaron Dimick says this is huge for Jackson as it has sat vacant since 2004 under city control.
“Not only does it mean a 10-story historic, beautiful building is going to be redone, it’s also going to be a huge economic boost for downtown and the entire community,” he said.
The hotel was built in 1926 and functioned as such until 1975. Consumers Energy used the property for office space until 2003. In the years since, the city has spent $1.5 million to preserve the building so they could find a future developer.
It will be a $27 million investment to bring the Hayes Hotel back to life on the part of the developer. The financing is expected to include a mix of state and federal grants, a Brownfield Redevelopment grant and other funding sources.
“The city has not committed any money to that $27 million,” Dimick said. “Our stake in this was preserving the building for so many years but it’s not as if we are using any taxpayer funds to bring this back online. Now that it’s sold, it’s going to be up to the developer to do that. There are different things that the city can do as far as tax incentives go or to look for different ways to support the project but it’s not as if we’re earmarking money to help reinvest in the building at this time.”
City officials say it’s been difficult to do economic development in Jackson until recently citing economic troubles, the pandemic and population loss.
“But, we are seeing a huge upswing in Jackson with businesses and people who want to live in the city,” Dimick said. “When we started marketing the Hayes more aggressively last year and collaborating with the Jackson Anchor Initiative we knew that momentum was on our side and there was a desire for people to do projects like this.”
But efforts to sell the hotel picked up steam last year, according to Jackson Anchor Initiative CEO Scott Fleming.
“The Hayes development will be a tremendous project for the city,” he said. “With the approved sale, downtown Jackson will experience a major economic impact.”
This is a continuation of housing in Jackson with the 200 and the Lofts on Louis bringing market-rate apartments to downtown in recent years.
“We have a huge resurgence of downtown. We have a lot of people who want to live downtown and take part in everything that the city has to offer so, we don’t have enough housing space for those people,” Dimick said. “That’s why we’ve seen so many new apartment complexes here downtown for people of all ages and people of all income levels.”
J. Jeffers and Company Senior Vice President of Development Brian Loftin says that is a big reason for wanting to take on this project.
“Specifically in the downtown corridor, the number of buildings that have been restored, the tenancy very high in terms of the commercial storefronts that were there,” he said. “The development of some new multi-family housing around the project showed us that it was definitely a vibrant area and an active area.”
The development company specializes in historical buildings and sees potential in the hotel.
“The structure is in very good shape. Obviously, internally there’s a lot of work to be done but you can really start to see the grandness of what that first floor was, what the second floor lobby entrance is, the ballrooms, and we start to get an understand of the history. That’s really what we’re excited about being part of and we definitely can see how from a community standpoint, the reactivation of that property will have an impact not only psychologically, but also just physically,” Loftin said.
With all of the downtown investments in recent years parking has been a big concern from residents, business owners and city officials. The Jackson Downtown Development Authority recently held three community meetings to gather feedback on how to tackle parking problems.
“We are aware that we are going to need more parking,” Dimick said. “There has been some different ideas about a new parking garage or different parking solutions. It’s not as if we’re going to drop hundreds of residents downtown and not do anything about parking. I would imagine that we would have to build some kind of parking structure because we have essentially run out of space. We don’t want to turn downtown into more of a parking lot than it already is.”
There is no timetable for when construction will start on the new development.
The developers have a 180 day due diligence period where they can come in to investigate the property and secure funding.
Loftin said they have not exactly picked out what will go into all of the space but many of the characteristics of Hotel Hayes will be kept.
The Hayes Hotel is a 113,366 square foot building located at 228 W. Michigan Avenue.
See related:
- Downtown Jackson’s Hotel Hayes has been vacant since 2004, but this year it may finally see life once again.
- More housing options could be coming to Jackson
- Downtown Jackson has meterless parking. Will that change?
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