A crossroads business address in downtown St. Joseph won’t be vacant long.
‘Visit Southwest Michigan’ will relocate its headquarters and Tourist Information Center to the former United Federal Credit Union downtown office building at Main & Broad Streets, across from City Hall. The two organizations have signed a purchase agreement and expect to close the transaction later this summer.
A joint formal announcement with comments from VSM and UFCU leaders is planned on Tuesday.
UFCU closed the downtown office in late March, citing little customer utilization and multiple other local UFCU offices. There has been wide public speculation another bank would step into the location, however we have learned a deed restriction from UFCU prevents sale to any competitive financial institution. That is a common real estate practice in many industries.
‘Visit Southwest Michigan’ is the area’s primary tourism promotion entity, and was known for more than 40 years as the Southwest Michigan Tourist Council. It has operated a Tourist Information Center at its office at 2300 Pipestone Road (Exit 29) for several decades. There has been discussion in public government meetings about the possibility of moving the center to Exit 27, Niles Road in St. Joseph in connection with redevelopment of the Nye’s Apple Barn property. However, that larger plan has slowed over neighborhood objections and zoning questions.
A move to the downtown UFCU space would put Visit Southwest Michigan in the center of its area of focus (St. Joseph/Benton Harbor/Stevensville) and close to many of the major events it spotlights like Chalk the Block, Krasl Art Fair, Farmers Market, Antiques on the Bluff, etc.), as well as many shops and restaurants to which it seeks to drive traffic. Clearly, the move would be a huge upgrade from Pipestone Road, which is off the ‘beaten path’ for most tourist traffic following the decline of retail in and around the Orchards Mall.
The move also raises interesting questions about the roles and ‘territory’ covered by both Visit Southwest Michigan and St. Joe Today–which has headquarters and another Welcome Center two blocks away. Both organizations share the goal of attracting tourists. SJ Today organizes and operates several major downtown events throughout the year and has considerable focus on ‘locals’ as well as outsiders. How the two groups navigate those adjoining lanes for maximum benefit to the region will be something for business community observers to watch in the future.
By Gayle Olson, MOTM Contributor
