Year to Year

Above: Summer 2009

After and before, the transformation is complete. In just one year a page is turned on a neighborhood that now rivals that in any urban setting. What remains unknown is the effect that this physical face lift will have. New restaurants? A bookstore? The possibilities are many and varied - but all require one essential ingredient - people! Enough to weave the web of commerce -neighbors serving neighbors. At what point do we reach critical mass - and will we know it? I suspect it is a moving target - a continuum without an end, an equation without an answer, a process that becomes ever more complicated with the addition of every new business and resident. A fascinating pallet to which we add just a bit more color with our music school and our urban lofts.

Below: Summer 2008

A Park Grows in Benton Harbor

A small triangular park greets Spring and reminds all of us why we love this neighborhood. Urban, historic and alive - with space for so much more. Already home to artists, teachers and renaissance pioneers, the Arts District continues to captivate. Music, threatre, live entertainment, fine dining - a vibrant landscape, an open invitation. If it's not here now, it will be soon!

Return From Exile

Beginning nearly a year ago, an inventory was made of the various architectural and vintage artifacts that could be saved for re-use. Many of the items were impractical or ultimately undesirable. Some, such as the multiple paned warehouse windows and the impressively worn freezer door shown here have made the final cut. They will provide accent and definition for our spaces and connect them to their early roots.

What is that sound?

It could be music. It will be music.

These photos feature details of the new Citadel Music Center. The odd round window was a flat belt pulley in a former life and the multiple paned warehouse window and the doors on the left were salvaged from the original ice cream factory. Overhead you may notice the pan-poured structural concrete ceiling of the music center.

Keep listening...

Indecent Exposure

Over a period of several months the building is stripped in stages of the more modern sheet metal and stucco facade. The original brownstone is revealed and then stripped as well, exposing the rough brick under layment. A new course of brownstone will restore the building to its original state.

Stairway to Heaven

Here are two shots of the stairway in our largest residential unit. The apartment, once a windowless, cork-lined refrigeration room of the Hill Ice Cream Company now features

2-1/2 baths, exposed brick walls and expansive views of the nearby golf course. A true loft, the second floor remains open to the living space below.

Rock Photo

Inspections finally complete, the drywall crew has descended into the space that will become home to the Citadel Music School. This nine-man "rock band" will complete the initial "hanging" process in about 3 days. Nearly 3000 sq feet will be devoted to music instruction for students of all ages. The school will feature a waiting room, director's office and 10 instruction studio rooms as well as a larger group ensemble and "kindermusic" room. Brass, String, Woodwind, Piano, Percussion and Voice instruction - all under one roof.