MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – Governor Snyder took a personal tour through the soon-to-be Grandview Apartments Wednesday morning.

It only took a 15 minutes through the former Holy Family Orphanage built in 1915 in Marquette for Governor Snyder to be impressed with the transformation to these affordable apartments.

“It’s incredible to see how they’ve saved a number of the features,” said Governor Snyder. “Just the sand stone, if you look at the porch of this place, it really is incredible.”

But it wasn’t just the historic features that impressed Snyder, it’s the fact that these apartments are affordable housing units where rent will be dependent on income and size.

“This is a place for people to come to try to better their lives and to have better access to work employment opportunities,” said Snyder. “I hope this is a place where people can call it home and at the same time, this can be a platform for them to then go buy a single family home in Marquette and find other success coming out of it, allowing others to benefit from the opportunity.”

This $16 million restoration will provide 56 housing units. Of these 56,14 will be set aside as supportive apartments for persons in need of some level of support for successful occupancy.

Governor Snyder also used his time at the site to reflect on the construction aspect relating it to the trade skills he saw in the U.P. earlier this week.

“We want to see the construction trades grow and I visited some great programs yesterday, but this project I think is unique and just wonderful walking through,” said Snyder. “I was talking to some of the people who are building this project and these people really wanted to work on this job because of the special nature of this project.”

The construction has provided more than 100 jobs throughout the year of renovation.

“This project is one where people will want to say for the next 50 years they helped built it,” said Snyder. “This is special for the Grandview and Marquette when it is completely done.”

Officials plan to have the affordable rental housing complex completed by late fall 2017.

Link to original article: uppermichiganssource