Despite some recent miscommunication at the state level over a $2 million grant intended to help fund the transformation of the former Pugsley Correctional Facility, Fife Lake Township Supervisor Lisa Leedy says everything is on track for the ambitious redevelopment project.

Last summer, The Ticker  broke the news about a notable allocation in Michigan’s 2025 budget: $2 million “for the redevelopment of a former corrections facility in Grand Traverse County into an agricultural tourism hub.” Chad Munger, founder and owner of Mammoth Distilling, confirmed to The Ticker that the earmark had to do with his plans to buy the 105-acre Pugsley site and turn it into a massive commercial distilling operation and agritourism epicenter.

All was relatively quiet on the Pugsley front until last month when the Detroit News reported “a mistake in the budget language describing the $2 million earmark.” Specifically, original 2025 budget documents mistakenly failed to identify either a recipient for the $2 million allocation or a grant sponsor from within the state legislature. Now, the earmark has been modified, with Fife Lake Township listed as the recipient and Representative John Roth of the 104th District identified as the grant sponsor.

Roth, whose office did not respond to multiple inquiries from The Ticker, told the Detroit News that he had not been involved in getting the earmark into the state budget, despite the fact that the Pugsley property is located within his district. Roth said somebody from the House policy staff had come to him after the error was discovered and asked him to be the sponsor, to which he agreed.

Speaking to The Ticker and other Michigan publications last year, Munger indicated he was under contract to buy the Pugsley property, with plans to use it as the site for a new “contract distilling operation” called Consolidated Rye & Whiskey. The idea was for CRW to use Michigan-grown whiskey grains – such as the Rosen rye crop Mammoth is growing on South Manitou Island – to “make barrels of whiskey to be sold on the contract market to other brands inside and outside of Michigan.” As Munger explained it, the concept would help put Michigan on the map as a major whiskey producer. Munger even envisioned the former Pugsley property becoming the culmination of a statewide “Michigan Rye Trail,” a spin on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

Munger’s vision is still part of the project plan: “Still working with the state and township to process the grant,” he wrote in an email to The Ticker, when asked about the status of CRW. According to an updated list of budget earmarks released last month by the State Budget Office, though, the new plan is for Fife Lake Township – not Munger or CRW – to acquire the Pugsley property and spearhead the redevelopment project.

“Through public-private partnerships, the township will ensure the long-term success and growth of the facility as an agricultural tourism hub,” the State Budget Office wrote in the new document. “These partnerships will drive economic opportunities and job creation, create positive impact for the businesses affected by the closure of the prison, and ensure the long-term sustainability of the facility while promoting environmental stewardship.”

“My understanding is that the legislature requires the money to filter through a unit of government or nonprofit,” Leedy says. “Fife Lake Township was always intended to be the fiduciary for the money, but I think because we weren’t the ones that talked to the press, that might have created some confusion about who was actually getting the grant from the state.”

Leedy adds that, though Munger negotiated the agreement to purchase the Pugsley property from its current owner, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the most recent purchase agreement “includes an assignment clause that allows [Munger] to assign the purchase agreement to the township.”

On the purchase front, Fife Lake Township is waiting to hear about a $2.6 million grant application it submitted in January to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and its Revitalization and Placemaking program (RAP). RAP “provides access to gap financing for place-based infrastructure development, real estate rehabilitation and development, and public space improvements.” If that money comes through, Leedy says those funds will be used to buy the Pugsley property. Since the state budget allocation is earmarked for redevelopment purposes, it can’t be used for acquisition.

Once the township owns the property, Leedy says the plan is to redevelop Pugsley as a “light industrial park,” with spaces for multiple businesses on premises. Key redevelopment tasks, she notes, will include expanding the Pugsley wastewater system, subdividing the property into multiple parcels, and “doing some white-boxing of the spaces, so that we can turn around and do a lease-to-own option for businesses to make it an easy avenue in.”

“I believe Mammoth’s intention is to occupy multiple parcels on campus,” Leedy adds.

Also planning to put down roots at the Pugsley industrial park? Fife Lake Township itself.

“We are out of space, and have actually been looking for a new location for our township offices.” Leedy says. “We do own some land, but it's not in a good location for building a new building. So, we’ve talked about potentially locating our offices on campus [at Pugsley], to serve as an anchor institution out there.”

Beyond township offices and CRW, Leedy says she’s already fielding calls from other businesses interested in setting up shop at Pugsley.

“My full-time job is at the Builders Exchange, so I interact with a lot of contractors, and I’ve had a few contractors reach out to me about locating their small construction industry type businesses out there,” she says. “And then, also, according to the original site development plan, there will be some sort of housing development on the easterly 20 acres of the property.”

Mostly, Leedy wants to see some real “economic activity” and other productive uses out at Pugsley for a change. The property has been mostly dormant since the state closed the prison in 2016.

“We have taken a back seat watching entities come with ideas and leave with ideas [for that property],” Leedy says. “Now, we’re taking the bull by the horns and doing what we can to create an opportunity for the greatest likelihood of success for that campus.”