Our Future Communities Start Here

Reimagining Vacant Spaces

ROGERS CITY Rogers City is a quaint town on the coast of Lake Huron in Presque Isle County and is known

for its scenic parks, lighhouses, and salmon tournaments. City Manager Joe Hefele wanted to expand the city's offerings by creating a welcoming and diverse downtown. The city’s downtown is filled with vacant buildings, fueling the community’s desire to turn it around to boost tourism and give people a reason to exit the highway and explore a new and interesting place. That’s no easy feat for local developers, who are unsure about what to do with these spaces and how to proceed with innovative development in a small community. But that uncertainty didn’t stop Hefele from taking action and pushing the community to think big.