Wall Street Journal article highlights Kalamazoo

Fritz Klug
Western Herald

(Jay Pliskow / Western Herald) Interior of the The Union Cabaret and Grille. The Union is one of the local business featured in the Wall Street Journal travel series “Off the Beaten Track.”

On Nov. 4, the Wall Street Journal profiled Kalamazoo, Michigan in “Off the Beaten Track,” a weekly travel series.

Writer Rhonda L. Rundle described Kalamazoo as “A small, charming town in southwest Michigan.”

Kalamazoo has inked the pages of the Journal more than a dozen times in the past few years, marked by being shortlisted as one of seven worldwide cities for economic development success in the July 2008 article Class Act, Kalamazoo’s lesson: Educate and they will come by Jeff Bennett.

The Nov., 4 article, however, focused on what there is to do in Kalamazoo, where to stay and what to eat. For local businesses mentioned, the write up was a welcomed recognition. “We were blown away,” Peter Livingstone-McNelis said, owner and operator with his wife Laura of The Henderson Castle, which was mentioned as one of the places to stay.

The Henderson Castle is a landmark in Kalamazoo, drawing international attention. Built in 1895, the Livingstone-McNelis bought and began to convert the castle into a bed and breakfast in 2005.
Livingstone-McNelis said that he has noticed the economic development mentioned in a July article describing the economics in Kalamazoo.

Kalamazoo has taken many steps to develop downtown and other local business by offering assistance loans, tax abatements and other benefits. Michigan’s Cool Cities initiative under Gov. Jennifer Granholm has also helped make Kalamazoo an alluring town for businesses.

“People generalize about Michigan, but Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids are doing pretty good right now and even better a year down the road,” Livingstone-McNelis said.

“It was exciting and nice to be noticed in a time when it is hard to be,” said James Hoffman, general manager of the Union Cabaret and Grille, also mentioned in the article. Hoffman sees the positive changes in the local economy, although it has been hard to tell in the last month.

Hoffmann sees Western Michigan University as an important asset to the community.

“You can definitely tell when summer starts and the students are gone,” Hoffmann said.
WMU students are so important that Hoffmann offers a 15 percent discount Monday through Thursday for students with Tuesday being college night. The Union also features the music of many WMU faculty, alumni and students.

For some WMU freshmen, the article could have been written about anyplace.

“Twenty-five dollars is a lot of money for a dinner” said Evan Mann, a freshman from Eaton Rapids.
Tony Bienz, a freshman from Eaton Rapids, said there was nothing in the article that he would like to do.  Lexi Sugars of West Bloomfield and Kaitlin LaFeve of New Baltimore, Mich. began to tease the idea of going to a bed and breakfast, but soon dismissed it.

The Kalamazoo they know is a bit more extends as far as campus and classes, the resident halls and cafeterias, and features streets such as Lafayette, Oak, Euclid and Lovell.

For the whole Kalamazoo community, being “off the beaten track” in the Wall Street Journal is a great encouragement.

The articles written in the WSJ have provided reinforcement to the city and business owners.

“On a personal note,” Livingstone-McNelis added, “my aunt in California and parents in Maine read the article without us telling them. That was great.”

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=2268

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 16 2008. Filed under Nation, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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