A final feasibility report for the Upper Peninsula Gateway Discovery Center, to be based at St. Ignace on the site of the current Welcome Center, should be released this month. A draft report now is complete and Sandra Clark, director of the Michigan Historical Center in the Department of History, Arts, and Libraries (HAL), and project coordinator, is in the process of preparing a final report to be released this month.

The report is expected to include the space allocation and conceptual design of the proposed welcome center building, estimated construction costs, and site selection information, Ms. Clark told The St. Ignace News Monday, July 31.

"We think the report will answer a lot of the questions that we had about the feasibility of the project," she said.

Before the information is released to the public, Ms. Clark will prepare a demonstration for administrators at HAL, Michigan Department of Transportation, the Department of Natural Resources, and Travel Michigan. She said the governor's staff also will view the draft report.

In March at St. Ignace, Ms. Clark gave local residents the opportunity to weigh in with their opinions on a proposed 45,000-square-foot building that could become a welcome center, replacing the current modular building north of the Mackinac Bridge that now houses the Welcome Center.

Four departments are working cooperatively on the project, including Transportation, Natural Resources, HAL, and Travel Michigan.

In 2004, DLZ, Inc., an architectural and engineering firm from Lansing, was hired for $138,651 to perform the feasibility study for the project.