New business development coming soon to Alpena
ALPENA, Mich. — Good news for Alpena as new business development will begin soon in the city. The State of Michigan received $100 million dollars through the Cares Act and chose Target Alpena as one of the organizations to distribute some of the funds to local businesses.
Cares Act funds were distributed to five counties including Alpena. Out of 170 grant requests in Alpena, 150 were approved distributing $931,000 to Alpena small businesses.
According to Alpena’s Director of Economic Development, Mike Mahler, despite the impact COVID–19 has had on the economy, there is still developer activity in Alpena. Mahler said developers from downstate have begun to reach out but because of non-disclosure agreements, Mahler could not go into specifics about what development is coming.
Alpena mall owner Solomon Belay said even though COVID–19 has impacted the economy, his decision to sell the mall was not entirely pandemic related.
Mahler said he has received feedback from the community wanting to see retail stay in Alpena and has reached out to J.C. Penney corporate and Target in hopes of them considering other locations in Alpena .
