News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena Mayor Matt Walligora on Thursday takes a phone call in downtown Alpena, near the corner of 2nd Avenue and Water Street, where city officials are trying to find a developer for the former Alpena Power Co. site.

ALPENA — Although economic development professionals are working to fill many vacant storefronts and acreage around the region, those properties still have value, officials said.

Vacancies can “appear less than desirable,” Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Director Mike Mahler said.

However, Alpena County Equalization Director Ted Somers said that, just because a property is vacant, that does not mean it’s worth less or produces less in property taxes.

Somers said the county does not use an “income approach” to assess a business property, which would allow investors to estimate the value of property based on the income the property generates.

Instead, the county bases property value assessments on what it costs to construct a building.

Because each business location is unique, Somers bases his figures on a state-issued manual and determines the property’s value based on square footage. Other factors, such as depreciation from a building’s age, are also taken into account when determining property value.

Nathan Skibbe, supervisor for the Charter Township of Alpena, said the township’s operations are not hindered if a building is empty, unless the property were to go into foreclosure.

Taxes cannot be collected on a property owned by the government because of foreclosure.

But there are benefits to keeping buildings occupied.

When businesses on a property are full, the risk of vandalism is minimized and there’s less potential for blight and other issues, officials said.

Also, “as a community, the value is that you’re probably going to have a higher rate of employment and a lower rate of unemployment,” Skibbe said. “You’re going to have more revenue from those paychecks staying in the community, so there’s a million and one reasons why having businesses prosper in the community is a positive thing.”

Alpena Mayor Matt Waligora said a vacant building isn’t really doing anything for the city, but an occupied building has employees who are working.

Adam Poll, the city’s planning and development director, added that, when buildings are occupied, people generally care for them more than when the buildings are vacant.

“When people are in buildings, they care for them,” Poll said. “And, as Matt noted, they do more for our local economy and for people in the city and here in the region.”

Poll noted two recent renovations completed with help from a Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant — the former Owl restaurant property, which is now Mango’s Tequila Bar, and the former Dry Dock Bar, which is being renovated for the future Red Brick Tap and Barrel.

“Not only are they employing people within the region, which is great, they also provide a place for people, in many cases, to either eat or go to for entertainment,” Poll said.

Waligora said the city, along with the state, have been able to help three auto dealerships with tax incentives: Thunder Bay Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Dean Arbour Ford Lincoln and Alpena Buick GMC. He said they “seem to be flourishing.”

“For the community, that’s jobs – that’s probably the main thing,” he said. “All of them were tied to larger employment and, to my knowledge, have all met or surpassed those employment projections.”

Poll said that, while there are some grants that are only available to the downtown, the city has programs to assist businesses located outside of downtown.

“The city is very proactive in its economic development efforts. We have a myriad of tools that we can use in various situations and we attempt to help anybody that needs assistance that we can help,” he said.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.