Driving down First Street at the edge of Downtown Bay City, most people see the obvious – an abandoned building next to a lot choked with weeds, shrubs, and small trees.
When Avram Golden – who owns Golden Gallery at 113 Third St. – walks through the area near the intersection of First Street and North Jefferson Street, he sees potential.
The building sits within steps of Bay City’s growing downtown district.Inside 409 First St., Golden imagines studios for artists, a makerspace for students to learn welding and other industrial skills, and an event space. In the weed-filled lot next to the building, he pictures a sculpture garden. He talks about using projectors to shine art onto the back of the Bay County courthouse building.
Golden envisions the four-story building as home to manufacturing, event space, a photography museum, 3-D print lab and innovation center, as well as…
