‘Dancing with ideas’: Marysville native taps old museum for micro hotel at city park

Korey Eagen said the timeline for completing a remodel of the old Marysville Historical Museum into a four-unit micro hotel is ever-evolving — now a couple of weeks into the site’s interior demolition.

But on Friday, he hoped they'd still be able to accommodate visitors attending nearby events by this fall.

A Marysville native with a background in real estate and buildouts, Eagen is investing private funds into the redevelopment of the decades-old building, located on Huron Boulevard beside the city’s community recreation center and on the southern edge of the city park.

City Council members Ok’d a joint development and lease agreement with Eagen earlier this month.

And while he shared in some officials’ excitement for the big picture — giving a reason for people to stay in town rather than Port Huron or St. Clair — he also focused on the project’s details, the surprises they’re discovering along the way, and the view visitors would have once it’s complete.

“We’re trying to keep the integrity of the exterior of the house, but we will be adding a porch all the way around,” Eagen said during a tour early Friday. He stood on the first level of the now largely-gutted structure. “… So, you’ll have an upper and lower deck with double doors to walk out, and then, you’ll have an outdoor porch here to walk around and sit on. Kind of taking the idea of like the 1920s, what it would’ve looked like.”

What would a micro-hotel look like?

Calling it a bed and breakfast establishment, Eagen said, felt a little outdated. Instead, the Airbnb-type lodging venue will be geared toward short-term stays.

Under the plans shared with council, there would be two-first floor units at about 580 square feet each, including one that’s handicapped accessible, and two on the second floor at 620 square feet.

Each will also have kitchen space, Eagen said, with an island. Interior staircases will also remain, and other structural fixtures, including new interior walls and windows, will be installed as the site is refitted for units.

Some details were still being figured out, Eagen said. He pointed to the third level, or attic, as an example, as well as the interior ladder it includes leading to a cupola with a copper top to the building, long-turned green, that he hopes to refurbish.

“We’re going to take the louvers out and put in glass on it, and we’ll have a light just like you would have had (with) a captain’s light,” Eagen said. “… We’ve had some revisions of (the third-floor idea). Like maybe some New York-style pull-out beds out of the wall or something. We’re kind of just dancing with ideas right now … because, obviously, until you get that question answered by a structural engineer, that it’s safe, we’re just working through that.”

Overall, Eagen said he planned to make the attic a common space.

What does the joint agreement entail?

Council members OK’d the lease with Eagen on May 8, having first approached them on the idea several months ago. City Manager Randy Fernandez said its term is 50 years, a stipulated maximum from legal counsel in crafting the agreement.

If successful, it also calls for public financing. But Fernandez added that even while leasing the building on city property, Eagen still pays taxes.

“We do not put in a penny until Mr. Eagen proves to us through invoices and other receipts to Mr. (Mike) Booth, our finance director, that he has put in a cost of $500,000 or more,” Fernandez said earlier this month, “and then, we would cut a check to Mr. Eagen for basically the $250,000.”

What benefits does it bring for Marysville?

As the city weighed options for multiple structures around Marysville City Park — such as the park’s bandshell, which officials have approved to raze and replace — it got input from city residents.

The issue became, officials said, that if they kept the museum building, they didn’t have a use.

And Eagen was the only individual who stepped forward with an idea.

Earlier this month, Fernandez told council members if the agreement wasn’t OK’d, the city administration would have recommended the site be demolished.

“Everyone wanted to save the museum, but in order for the city to bring it back to a building that people could work in it and an environment that (was accessible), we would’ve had to put in over $300,000 and we had no use for it,” Mayor Kathy Hayman said Friday. “So, yes, the city owns the building, but we have different priorities than to keep that building habitable.”

Hayman also saw another plus for the deal.

In addition to giving visitors a chance to stay in town for class reunions or weddings or Little League games at the park, she said it could make the area “a quasi-downtown” — something Marysville lacks.

“We’re limited,” Hayman said. “We’ve got the Super 8 in Marysville, but that’s it.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Marysville native remodeling old museum into micro hotel at city park