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MOUNT CLEMENS — It has been a long time coming, but now it is here.
Beginning the week of March 24, work on Mount Clemens’ Downtown Revitalization Project is underway. The nearly $6 million project begins with an overhaul of Macomb Place, transforming the one-way street into a curbless, pedestrian-friendly promenade.
“I think it’s long overdue that these roads and things have been fixed or get fixed,” Clementine’s Pastries owner Melissa Lavender said. “We see a lot of accidents out here (and) things like that; people falling, that sort of thing. So I think that the new roads — especially for where we are right down here (near the intersection of North Walnut Street and Macomb Place) — will be great.”
Originally expected to begin last year, the project was delayed into 2025 after additional studies had to be performed to satisfy federal grant funding requirements. About $4.85 million of the project’s funding comes from grants. While the extra studies meant a delay in the project, they did not spoil stakeholders’ sentiments toward the project.
“With us being next to a river and a lake, I am so glad we waited instead of hurrying up to make sure that our environment, our fish and that for our next generation, everything is safe and sound,” said Angie Beckett, manager of Weirdsville Records.
Part of what has kept members of the Macomb Place business community on board with the project is communication from the Mount Clemens Downtown Development Authority, the city itself and project engineering firm Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick. According to DDA Marketing Coordinator Michelle Weiss, representatives from AEW visit the DDA’s Macomb Place office twice a week for meetings and to speak with anyone interested in the project. Information about the project is “mirrored,” according to Weiss, between the DDA and the city itself and is posted on social media accounts for both. Lavender said the city has been “forthcoming” with weekly progress notices.
“It’s been great,” said Manuela Koziarz, the owner of The Nest Collaborative. “We’ve been up to date on everything.”
What presents a challenge for businesses and the DDA alike is the fact that Macomb Place is planned to be closed — at least to vehicle traffic — for much of the summer and early holiday shopping season, with surface work expected to be wrapped up no later than November. Planters, greenery and other natural elements of the project will be added in 2026. Pedestrian paths and businesses will remain open for much of the construction work, but some adjustments have needed to be made.
Downtown events already began adjusting to construction in 2024, when it was expected to take place. The DDA’s Uptown Friday Night concert series will continue splitting its shows between stages at North Walnut Street, near Ardis Music, and around northern Macomb Place, near the Orleans and O’Halloran’s restaurants. The Urban Street Fair and annual Pride festival will take place on Main Street. One of the more rapidly approaching events, the Made in Michigan street market, is shifting to the Macomb Place red parking lot south of the Anton Art Center for its May 10-11 run.
“Most often when we do our events on Macomb Place, unless you’re driving down Walnut or Pine, you don’t even know we’ve got an event going on. So (Made in Michigan) is going to be pretty well exposed from southbound Gratiot,” Weiss said. “There’s 30,000 cars that travel down northbound and southbound Gratiot every day. They’ll see the tents, they’ll see some of the activity that’s going on and, hopefully, they’ll take that turn onto Pine Street and come on in.”
As for bringing traffic to businesses, Weiss said the DDA is going all out to keep people loaded with reasons to patronize Macomb Place establishments. Signage and planters are to be placed directing people to the street, while Weiss has been preparing lists of events and activities to deploy as needed.
“I have a lot of pop-up events that are in queue in case we feel like it’s getting a little soft, but I’m not concerned,” Weiss said. “I really feel like we’re prepared and we’re going to have fun with it.”
Some planned events during construction include a pub-crawl-inspired “sweets on the streets,” a scavenger hunt and a construction cone decorating contest.
Whether much work will be needed to bring people downtown remains to be seen. Beckett, speaking only days after barriers, cones and construction equipment began appearing along Macomb Place, was bullish about how Weirdsville Records would fare in the face of the project.
“As we’re talking now, I’ve got a store full of 25 people, so bring it on, because construction workers just bring me more business,” Beckett said. “We have a destination, and I think people would walk through the waters to get their favorite album.”
Be it with confidence or pleas, the message is clear and united from shop owners to the heights of city government: Macomb Place remains open, active and ready for business.
“I think that (the project) is really going to brighten things up and make it new,” Lavender said. “I love that the buildings are still old and have that historic charm to them. … I think it will be great. I think it’s going to be a lot more open, a lot more walkable. We’re a small city that needs a lot of love, and I’m hoping that through this project, that at the end, we come out even better.”
The Macomb Place reconstruction is only the first phase of the Downtown Revitalization Project, which has a planned second phase to rework Cherry Street into a more navigable roadway. A start date for Phase 2 remains to be determined. For more information about downtown Mount Clemens events and happenings, visit downtown mountclemens.org.
