City approves funding for Dilworth study

The Boyne City Main Street program has received city approval to spend up to $25,000 in tax dollars to help fund a study for a developer’s proposed redevelopment of the landmark Wolverine Dilworth Inn. The Boyne City City Commission unanimously approved the expenditure at its regular semi-monthly meeting March 9. Recently, Landmark Development Company, a partnership made up of long-time Boyne City businessman Tom Johnson and former East Jordan City Manager David White, unveiled a plan to renovate and re-open the now closed hotel under a franchise agreement with the national hotel organization Choice Hotels. The nearly 100-year-old hotel has been closed for about 16 months and reopening or redeveloping it recently was at or near the top of lists of citizens’ concerns and priorities for the city gleaned from a public input session and online surveys.

Full story from Petoskey News-Review * Background story

Bird’s Nest opening new store, “Girls Club”

The Bird’s Nest will soon be opening a second Boyne City store, to be called "Girls Club." The store will have a pre-opening March 26 and 27 and the full opening will be Friday, April 2. Girls Club is located in the Bird’s Nest’s original location, across the street and down the alley from the current store. “We have been busy transforming the store into a nook just for girls,” said owner Holly Watson. “The store product emphasizes the celebration of being a girl, having a BFF, and being fabulous and classy. The store has just about everything a girl could want from age two to tween. Some items we will carry are purses, glosses, bath items, manicure kits, craft kits, BFF shirts, pearl jewelry, and girl-sized scarves.” Until Memorial Day weekend, hours will be limited to Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 to 4. Become a fan on Facebook – search for "Boyne City Girls Club."

New name, new façade for “inspired living”

The downtown Boyne City store formerly named bali living imports has unveiled its newly remodeled storefront and its new name, inspired living. And they are celebrating with a Spring Clearance Sale. They were spotlighted in a recent story in the Petoskey News-Review:
Willingness to make a change is what led Leslie Neilson to Northern Michigan, and it's also what has kept her Boyne City business strong for the last 10 years. Neilson left a promising career in microbiology to move to Boyne City a decade ago with her husband, Paul Nicholls. Here, they opened their business, Bali &  Beyond, where they sold items found in villages during their trips to Bali. Soon after, they changed the name of the business to Bali Living Imports. And recently, they changed the name for a third time, to Inspired Living. Full story.

Dental clinic offices coming to One Water Street

A statewide dental services organization, Michigan Community Dental Clinics, Inc. has announced its commitment to occupy the entire second floor of the new One Water commercial business space currently under development in downtown Boyne City. Occupancy is expected in late June or early July. Phase I of the One Water project, which is an undertaking of Catt Development, will include a selection of small retail shops along with Magnum Hospitality's new restaurant, Santé, which will have a European Bistro theme. In addition there will be a state-of-the-art 24-slip marina, operated this year by the Boyne City Municipal Marina. Phase II of the development, scheduled to break ground in the fall of 2010, will round out the new marina district of Boyne City with a 37-room hotel that will include 17 condominium suites overlooking Lake Charlevoix. Michigan Community Dental Clinics, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit dental services corporation, operates 17 public health dental clinics statewide, serving people on Medicaid and low-income uninsured individuals at reduced rates. MCDC facilitates the development of dental facilities for local health departments, and operates the clinics on their behalf. With a total staff of over 160, which includes 46 dentists, 28 dental hygienists, and over 80 auxiliary staff, Michigan Community Dental Clinics served more than 50,000 individuals in 2009. The administrative staff in Boyne will number about 20 in July, and will grow over time with continued growth of the clinic network. The organization expects to add three new clinics to its network in 2010.
> For more information, contact Dr. Tom Veryser, MCDC Executive Director, at tveryser@midental.org, or by phone 547-7656; or Glen Catt at gbcatt@cattdevelopment.com.

New European bistro to be named Cafe Santé

"As-yet-unnamed" no longer! Magnum Hospitality is thrilled to "toast" the name of their European-themed bistro, Santé, scheduled to open in late May or early June at the One Water project in downtown Boyne City. According to Magnum's website, "The thrill comes from finally having the naming process over - this was tougher than naming any of our children! "À votre santé!" translates from the French to "To your health!", and is commonly shortened to "à la votre!" or "Santé!". It is used in similar fashion to our "Cheers!", the German "Prost!", Spanish "Salud!", or Italian "Salute!" Whether it is a special occasion or the celebration of another day, Santé! will be the place to raise a glass in appreciation of good friends, family, health and life. The new café will feature artisan pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven and classic fare from all of Europe..... Santé!

Outdoor shop coming to downtown Boyne City

The former Kiss Carpet building at 126 Water Street, will be home to a new outdoor sports shop called No Boundaries in early April. The new store will offer outdoor apparel and gear for hiking, camping, paddle sports, kayaks, cycling and Nordic (but not downhill) skiing. Owners are Bob South, a Boyne City area resident who will manage the store, and Jeff Collins, a Petoskey resident and custom home builder who also owns Glennwood Construction, which is doing the tenant improvements for the store. "We are friends from cycling, we ride together regularly," South said. "Jeff has an entrepreneurial mind and so do I, and we share the same vision for the store. It's not the best economy to open a new business, but we believe in Boyne City." South is a former board member of the Boyne Area Chamber, and says "We really want to be involved in the community and the Chamber." Another key employee will be Ben Tompkins, who will help manage the store and will also be involved with building strong community relations. South grew up in Indiana, graduated from the University of Indiana. He and his wife Carrie moved here in 1997; they now have three children. South was one of the original owners of North Country Cycle Sport in Boyne City and most recently worked at High Gear Sports in Petoskey.

Expanded broadband service coming to county

(From the Petoskey News-Review) Charlevoix County residents are expected to be among the first in the state to benefit from a $33 million federal stimulus grant that will help bring vastly expanded broadband Internet access to the area. Representatives from the nonprofit Merit Network, which is overseeing the network expansion project, hosted an informational session for area business and government officials at the Boyne District Library Thursday. The project, dubbed the “REACH Michigan Middle Mile Collaborative” will extend Merit’s existing 1,600-mile network of fiber-optic by 955 miles which will directly connect 44 “anchor” institutions such as libraries, universities, colleges and health care centers state-wide. Merit officials estimate that across the state, the project will make broadband Internet service more easily available to more than 886,000 households, 45,800 businesses and many other public institutions such as schools. Read the full story.