Downtown work begins on new 2-story building

August 30, 2007
By Dave Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle Business Editor

The second groundbreaking in as many months signaled the beginning Wednesday of the first construction of a new building on the former Muskegon Mall redevelopment site in downtown Muskegon.

Sidock Group Inc. -- a Muskegon- and Novi-based engineering and architectural company -- broke ground on a new two-story office and commercial building at 379 W. Western. B&R Excavating began site work Wednesday.

Sidock is constructing a 16,000-square-foot building for its Muskegon offices on the second floor with commercial space designed for the first floor. The new $2.3 million Sidock Building will be on the traffic circle at Third Street and West Western Avenue. Financing is through National City Bank.

Directly across West Western Avenue, Clifford Buck Construction Co. and Capstone Real Estate are ready to begin construction of the Hines Building, which will house the new offices of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce. The Hines Building groundbreaking was in late July.

Both the Hines and Sidock buildings are expected to be under construction this fall. They are the first new buildings to go on the former mall site. The five remaining buildings from the mall are already being planned for redevelopment with the former Century Club already open as the new Muskegon home for Hegg's Furniture.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington praised Sidock owner and President Bill Sidock for his commitment to his hometown. The Mona Shores High School graduate who now lives in Brighton and works in both Novi and Muskegon has built an industrial engineering and architectural firm from the former Randers Engineering Inc. that split with the Randers Group in 2001.

"It's great when someone from Muskegon leaves town to better his family situation, becomes successful and then comes back to help us with the redevelopment of downtown Muskegon," Warmington said at the Sidock groundbreaking ceremony.

Building a new office on the former site of the historic Occidental Hotel gives the Muskegon native a thrill.

"It is good to see the downtown coming back to life and see the people who are making it happen," Sidock said.

The Sidock Group has branched out into commercial architectural work including redevelopment of the Century Club along with the adjacent Daniels Office Supply and Muskegon Savings Bank buildings. Sidock said the company's own Sidock Systems will be the general contractor on its own building with many of the subcontractors from the Muskegon area.

With site work under way and full construction expected to begin in two weeks, Sidock said the building will be done by June. The street-level commercial space is being planned for a restaurant, coffee shop or retail outlets. Sidock said his company will begin marketing the commercial space when construction is closer to completion.

© 2007 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission