The Wall Street Journal - 13.09.2019

M4| Friday, September 13, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

MANSION

That always surprises clients, he

says, even when he warns them

ahead of time.

The unique lifestyle and stable

population make for a strong

sense of community, says Jennifer

Wohletz, who owns an art and

frame business in Milford. She and

her husband, Dan Wohletz, built a

2,100-square-foot, three-bedroom

house on Mackinac in 2006 for

roughly $490,000 using horse-

drawn drays and snowmobiles.

They raised their two children in

the home—which she now esti-

mates is valued at about

$575,000—in the summer months,

alongside friends from around the

country.

When her house needs repairs,

Ms. Wohletz does her best to hire

only workers regularly on the is-

land, because others tend not to

understand the logistics.

Francesco Viola, who owns the

Luca Mariano bourbon brand and

lives in Northville, Mich., is pre-

paring to build a 4,500-square-foot

vacation house on Mackinac Is-

land. He spent more than six

months finalizing plans.

“I did not want a dollhouse,” he

says of the home’s aesthetic.

He is excited to start building

the house, which he estimates will

cost about $2.5 million. But he is

apprehensive about the process

and the time it will take.

“I am already 42 years old,” he

says. “I want to enjoy it when I am

still young.”

LISTINGS

$5.85 million

Algonquin Street

Seven bedrooms, six bathrooms

This West Bluff cottage was built

in 1888 and has been completely

restored. The property has a pool,

gazebo and gardens. Agent: Billy

Borst, Mackinac Island Realty

$2.95 million

Algonquin Street

Ten bedrooms, seven bathrooms

The three-story, white Victorian

has a large front porch and several

balconies. The property also has a

horse stable with apartment above.

Agent: Mackinac Island Realty

BRIAN KELLY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (5)

Jennifer and Dan Wohletz with their daughter, Natalia, below, at their three-bedroom Mackinac Island home,

which they built in 2006. Their dog, Johan, on the porch.

BRIAN KELLY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MACKINAC ISLAND REALTY

MACKINAC

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MICHIGAN

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City

St.Ignace

Horse-Powered Estates

one excavation company on the is-

land, they had to get all the sup-

plies to the site and ready to go

for when the excavators found an

opening in their schedule.

“Every step in the real world is

10 more steps here. You have to re-

ally think it through,” says Adri-

enne Rilenge, who handles the

front office for U.P. North

Construction & Resto-

ration, a Mackinac

Island company

started by her

parents, who

built their own

house on the is-

land in 2000.

Lumber for

homes comes

from the mainland,

some 8 miles away,

by ferry. When the

lake freezes in win-

ter, materials are dragged by snow-

mobiles across the ice, guided by

the discarded Christmas trees resi-

dents donate for beacons.

Cement trucks aren’t allowed,

so all concrete is mixed by hand

on site or brought over already

formed in blocks. The Hagelsteins’

project called for 80,000 pounds of

concrete, which was needed after

the hole was dug but which would

Continued from page M1 be too heavy to transport by snow-

mobile over ice. It went by ferry

last fall and was stored in rented

space at the dock.

Supplies get picked up on the

docks by wagons, or drays, drawn

by two draft horses apiece, with

one driver and an assistant, and

taken to the building sites. Trash

is hauled off the same way.

Transport fees include

the time the horses

spend waiting

while everything

is unloaded.

Horses and

snowmobiles

can only carry

so much, so the

process usually

involves multiple

trips, which costs

more money and

time.

“The horses just walk.

They don’t gallop,” says John

Strayer, whose family built a four-

bedroom home on the island in

2000.

Subcontractors from off island

get paid as soon as they get on the

ferry, and the clock keeps clicking

until after the ferry lands on the

mainland at the end of the day.

Limited ferry schedules mean they

work limited hours.

Some islanders have found a

way around the 19th-century has-

sle. The first house Norman and

Michelle Schultz put up on Macki-

nac Island they did the old-fash-

ioned way: stick-built, with materi-

als and goods transported by

horse and carts. The second time,

they had the entire house trans-

ported over the water and lifted to

the waterfront site by crane.

That first home, built in 2012,

cost about $300 a square foot, or

roughly $1.14 million. It was a

3,800-square-foot Victorian that

took about two years to construct.

But when another house went up

blocking the view, the Schultzes

sold their house for $1.9 million

and bought a lot in front of it near

the water for $580,000.

Dr. Norman Schultz decided the

second home would be a 2,800-

square-foot prefab house that

could be transported to the prop-

erty by barge. This past June, the

house arrived—in six pieces. Hav-

ing it lifted by crane allowed them

to skip the permits and police es-

corts, and get the work done in

the summer.

The cost of the second home was

roughly equal to the first. But the

saving elsewhere was dramatic:

three months rather than 24. “I

bought time,” says Dr. Schultz, who

spends winters in Key West, Fla.,

and is one of the Emergency Medi-

cine doctors on call in the summer.

The Schultz homes are the only

two that architect Mike Pattullo, of

Shoreline Architecture & Design in

Petoskey, has designed for the is-

land that have actually been built.

Three others stalled because of

costs, which run about 1½ to 2½

times as much as on the mainland.

2,100 sq. ft., about $575,000 current value

Michelle and Norman Schultz built a home on the island using cranes to

lift six prefabricated pieces into place. The process took much less time—

three months instead of 24—than their horse-powered first build.

2,800 sq. ft., about $1.14 million

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