What should B.C. do with Cereal City?

Robert Warner
The Enquirer

The Battle Creek River ripples past a still-gleaming brick-and-corrugated-steel building, not yet 8 years old but already looking to start over.

The torrent of tourists promised for Kellogg's Cereal City USA never flowed this way. In the end, its owners found themselves knee-deep in visitors and over their heads in red ink. The cereal industry museum closed Jan. 4.

While the Heritage Center Foundation — which owns and operated Cereal City — mops up, the future of the three-story, 45,000-square foot building on prime riverfront property is a popular discussion topic around town.

Marcia Leavell of Battle Creek knows exactly what she wants:

"An Imax theater."

And she's not alone. That was the most popular response from among more than 30 solicited by an Enquirer reporter for this story.

"It's wonderful!" Leavell raved. "It's a humongous screen and the sound and the picture are just wonderful."

She told of taking her granddaughter as far as Detroit to see shows on Imax screens and of seeing the recent release "Happy Feet" in Imax.

"A lot of people will take their kids to one," Leavell said. She said she hoped that such a theater would offer a broader selection of first-run movies than currently available here.

"Why should all of our business keep going to Kalamazoo?" she asked.

Donnie Fields, owner of Brownstone Cafe on West Michigan Avenue, is an Imax booster, too.

"What better place for it?" Fields said Friday afternoon. "There's incredible parking, the building's cool. I'm sure there are other things that could be in there, but I just think that would be quite a draw to downtown, period. I'd be going every weekend."

Several others backed entertainment-related options.

"I would love to see an entertainment venue of some sort — a movie theater of some sort," said Kathleen Eriksen, the city's downtown development director. "Actually, one of the recommendations from the downtown blueprint — one of the last things that we have to address that was not completed — is to show movies in the downtown. ... It would be great to have a state-of-the-art theater, like in downtown Kalamazoo. And if you look at the structure, it looks like it could very well be a theater."

"Why not a dance club for teens on the weekends?" asked Chris Downs of Battle Creek. There are enough places in the building for several kinds of music to be played at the same time, she said, and the existing theater area could show films.

"I think Full Blast is a start," Downs said, "But it's mostly little kids there. Teens feel pushed out there."

If it cost $5 to get in and there were enough security and parents as volunteer chaperones, plenty of kids would show up, she said.

County Commissioner Kate Segal echoed Downs, saying "There needs to be something fun downtown that's inexpensive. A lot of people say Full Blast is too expensive. But something like that, that could still draw people downtown for fun which would help the restaurants and some of the businesses, I think would be good. What that would be, I'm not sure."

Battle Creek City Commissioner Susan Baldwin said "Any number of creative ideas" could be employed for the space. "Some sort of creative school, office space, or a different kind of museum" were her suggestions.

Others imagined noble options for the grand building at the west end of downtown.

Jim Hettinger, Battle Creek Unlimited's president and chief executive officer, said his blue-sky choice would be "A four-year institution of higher learning dedicated primarily to engineering and science."

Rosetta Sanders, a matriarch of the Washington Heights neighborhood and longtime community activist, suggested that the Willard District Library fill the bright, airy space.

Ben Miller of Battle Creek took a more radical approach.

"I would tear it down and use the space for an outdoor amphitheater," he wrote. "Expand the summer outdoor concert series and take advantage of the greenspace and the river."

Paul Conkey, co-owner of the Griffin Grill & Pub, said he leaned toward retail or business/office space in the former museum.

"Maybe retrofitting to go along with the condo idea and bringing people to live downtown," Conkey mused, noting the Riverfront Condominium project across the river. "What a great opportunity that would be. You also have a huge lot of land that other opportunities could help support that. ... It is prime real estate, being along the river there."

Pete Wong wrote to say "How about using the building to house a children's hands-on museum like at Grand Rapids or Ann Arbor? Our children frequent both places and they are always full with children.

Tom Thompson suggested putting a church there. "Great location, ample parking, and just has that feel about it," he wrote.

Robert Warner is senior writer for the Enquirer. Contact him at rwarner@battlecr.gannett.com or 966-0674.


Originally published January 14, 2007
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