The Grand Hotel
Mackinac Island, Michigan
Peek behind the scenes winter 2021, living on an isolated frozen Mackinac island working on a legacy historical hotel - redesigning and building out 10 new retail concepts. Built out during a bucolic Covid laden winter with a team 300 construction magicians. The biggest life adventure and most interesting and logistically challenging project of my career to date.
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Mackinac Island is strictly no motor-powered cars, making it the ultimate adventure in travel and design/build outs, definitely the biggest logistical adventure of my career.
All transportation and shipping is HORSE and carriage or sleigh; all building supplies, products, and fixtures—EVERYTHING—is ferried on a boat across the lake (if not frozen).
Horses are the ONLY form of transport for people, luggage, food and provisions shipments, and building supplies, complicating everything and tempered with charm and sweetness.
Mackinac Island is completely deserted and isolating during the long, icy winter; the only market on the island, Doud’s, serves as the heart of the island, and fresh produce is VERY hard to get!!
The town and merchants slowly come back and repaint, regroup and rework; the energy is pure magic.
Snowmobile Passenger Pickup: being towed in a sleigh with your luggage crammed between your knees is an all-new traveling WOW…
Frozen island at 16 degrees through the “back way” on a fast snowmobile or horse and carriage from the frozen lake.
Mackinac Island in April thawing out and serene as properties prepare for tourist season and reopening.