In the popular 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears a voice telling him, “If you build it, they will come.”

The voice was referring to a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield and, sure enough, the ghosts of great former players began showing up there to play.

The movie remains one of my all-time favorites and, years ago, during a family vacation, my oldest son actually convinced us all to detour to Dyersville, where the field still stands. Like the movie, it is a site worth seeing.

I like to think that “if you build it, they will come” still holds true. Yet maturity and life experiences have tarnished my perspective a bit and reality often paints another picture, much more like The Byrds’ lyrics of “to everything there is a season,” from their 1965 hit, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

While humming that tune, I think of the now-vacant Kmart, a 118,344-square-foot building that sits on 12.2 acres south of town.

Jim Klarich, economic development director for Target Alpena and the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce, told the Alpena Municipal Council this week he is working hard to find new tenants for the structure. I know he is, and I hope he soon is successful.

But the truth is, those tenants aren’t easy to come by in this economy. The building has sat vacant since December 2016. While the landlord has tried hard to keep the property looking presentable, it is hard to pay attention to every weed in the summer, to plow the parking lot with every snow of the winter. Those tasks become all the more difficult when no rent money is coming in from the property.

“To everything there is a season.”

When Kmart closed in 2016, it definitely had felt the competition from other big-box retail stores like Walmart and Meijer. But it wasn’t always that way.

In fact, when Kmart first opened in Alpena in 1980, as an anchor to the new Alpena Mall, it enjoyed great success. It was a classic example of “if you build it, they will come,” as the store, and the mall, were huge hits. In fact, Kmart was enjoying so much success that, as the years passed on, it was time to expand.

In 1995, a mere 15 years after its mall store opened, Kmart moved across U.S.-23 to occupy the now-vacant superstore.

I doubt little could have been done to save Kmart nationally. Locally, however, it always seemed to me that Kmart never really felt the same once it made the move. Kmart at the mall was warm and fuzzy, Kmart at the superstore seemed sterile and bland.

So, what will it take to make the vacant big box turn from a structure that enjoyed its season, but now is dormant, to a new “field of dreams?”

First, we as a community need to understand the playing field we’re on. “Downsizing” is the name of the game right now in brick-and-mortar retail, and I don’t ever believe that structure will be home to just one store ever again. I expect a mixture of at least two, perhaps more to occupy the space, once — and if — it is repurposed. Both Target and Kohl’s have been either opening or renovating nothing but smaller footprints this past year. Hobby Lobby only looks to move into already existing structures, so that is another possibility that makes sense for the space — so long as it is paired with someone smaller to share the footage.

Second, don’t expect stores like you’ve experienced in the past. In other words, this won’t be your mother’s Kmart. Whatever moves in will probably have a very brand-oriented focus, with lots of technology and attention to the “shopping experience,” rather than just being a stop in a day’s shopping.

Finally, look for whoever occupies the space to return to a little old school and concentrate on good ol’ customer service. All the digital bells and whistles in the world still can’t take the place of good customer service to make or break a shopping experience.

Klarich has his work cut out for him. Such is the life of an economic developer.

Given a little luck and a whole parking lot of optimism, however, I and everyone in Northeast Michigan wish for him to hit a grand slam with a new field of dreams for the property at 2355 U.S.- 23 S.

Bill Speer can be reached at 989-354-3111, ext. 311, or bspeer@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @billspeer13.