A Brief History of the La Croft Condominium Association
Helene Predhomme and D.M. Herder
The history of La Croft Condominiums would be sorely incomplete without an understanding of the property on which it stands. It was 1899 when the third “grand” hotel in the town of Charlevoix was built at the end of West Dixon Avenue. Known as the “Beach Hotel,” the new structure initially only had 15 rooms sharing one bathroom.
The daughter of a local hotelier, Martha Elston Baker, wife of the Beach Hotel builder, became the manager of “The Beach.” Martha Baker was so successful that five years after opening, she doubled its capacity. And 11 years after that, a Chicago architect was hired to extend the Beach Hotel to the west and down seven stories to the water level.
In 1915, the hotel had 216 rooms and 86 baths! The dining room seated 350-400, and the hotel had become the tallest building in Charlevoix.
Mrs. Baker died in 1922 and left everything to her daughter who squandered it all away, losing it in 1939. Several subsequent owners kept the hotel going, but the Beach burned to the ground during demolition in an all-night fire on October 17, 1967. (Excerpted from Charlevoix Historic Photos of the Charlevoix Historical Society at www.chxhistory.com)
The La Croft Condominium Association began life as we know it when the Master Deed was recorded in 1974. Construction began on the six-story, 64-unit building in 1972, but unfortunately so did financial troubles. Before the project was completed, La Croft went into receivership. The building was finally completed in 1976, and units were offered for sale at a discounted sale price. They eventually all sold. Presently, several owners of La Croft condos are either the original owners or their children, and some are the grandchildren of original owners.
We proudly celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2024 with several interesting events. Our Community Room had a display of old photos plus artifacts that were found in our sand dune from Native Americans who inhabited this spot as far back as 1500 B.C.
The artifacts were discovered by Michigan State University students during an anthropological dig that was conducted before construction was begun on our building. Arrowheads and pieces of pottery were among the artifacts on display. Dr. Charles Cleland, Emeritus M.S.U. Professor of Anthropology, was a featured speaker during our 40th anniversary. He was the gentleman who led the anthropological dig on our premises, along with his graduate students. Mr. David Miles, of the Charlevoix Historical Society, was our other featured speaker; his presentation provided some of the facts cited above, and the digitized images he shared from Charlevoix’s archives provided intimate looks into the history of our site and the hotel that stood here so grandly for seven decades before “we” came into the picture.
We also viewed a 15-minute video, the footage of which showed the efforts to save our lawn and swimming pool in the 1980s. Both were nearly lost to storms at the time of the record high level of Lake Michigan in October of 1986. It was at this time that the huge cement bag “pillows” were placed on our beach in order to hold back the relentless surf.
As a past La Croft Association Board President once wrote, “Every time we view a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan from our golden shore, please remember the ancient and modern men and women upon whose shoulders we now stand.”
After our 40th Anniversary Celebration in 2014 that educated young and old alike about our location’s history going back to approximately 1500 B.C., our owners and board members aimed for our 50th Anniversary. We celebrated that Golden event properly with a grand party in 2024. The 50th Anniversary Banner still graces our Community Room for all to see.
During the decade between our 40th and 50th anniversaries, original owners deeded and sold their condos to family members or to newcomers, and condos began to have joint ownership on deeds. Some new owners renovated their condos, and thereby they increased the real estate values of their Up North home here at La Croft. They also voted to approve special assessments for building maintenance and aesthetic improvements. Starting in about 2019, real estate values began to increase substantially, and some of our original owners who purchased their La Croft condominiums for $45,000 during the Developer’s financial difficulties in 1972-73, were pleasantly surprised to learn that by 2025 their investments were worth approximately $600,000 for an updated two-bedroom condo and $700,000 for an updated three-bedroom condo.
Owners have been consistently supportive when the times have come to vote approval for major assessments that benefit us all, and a late payment of quarterly dues by an owner is a rare thing that gets remedied promptly after a reminder by our Treasurer. Board members dedicate hundreds of hours every year to meetings, evaluation of requests for proposals and bids that come in, and careful attention to, and support for, our Resident Manager. His annual evaluation and salary and benefits package are intended to both reward him and recognize his six-and-seven-day-a-week schedule during our “high season” that is filled with pool maintenance and cleaning, constant projects, contractors’ crisis visits, garbage issues, parking issues, dog issues, and owner needs and requests.
Summary of Updates Since our Silver Anniversary
NOTE: Written quality assurance surveys were conducted in 2013, 2017, and 2024. Details can be found in the Spring Newsletters for each of those years. The 2017 survey showed that owner approval of our Association and board of directors’ decisions and communication was overwhelmingly excellent or good. (194 Excellent, 164 Good, 29 Fair, 2 Poor) These results were almost duplicates of the results of the 2013 survey. Our most recent quality assurance survey, in 2024, yielded very good results again, with specific requests for the following: More frequent communication from the board through the internet (“E-Blasts”); posting of meeting minutes electronically; improvements to landscaping, especially flowers; better cleanliness in lobbies, and improvements in the appearance of our elevators. In response, after listening carefully, the board of directors has allocated funds and effort (by our Resident Manager and contractors), and the noticeable improvements have pleased our owners.
For more details, and to see valuable pictures that illustrate our history, please peruse all of our Spring Newsletters. They are here in our La Croft website with narrative and photo evidence of our carefully led and managed family-based Association.
2014-2016
Rebuilt the parapet wall on the roof; sealing east side decks with parking ramp-quality sealant; installing new soffits and vents on our east side walkways; replacing our boardwalk on the beach; and total renovation of the pool area (including the installation of a new drain system, replacement of all railings around the pool area, tearing out the old concrete, tile, and wooden decking around the pool and replacing it with attractive stamped and colored concrete, and removal and replacement of the old pool liner).
2017
Repaired and coated car port roof; inspected and cleaned clothes dryer vents in all 64 condos; completely repainted our Resident Manager’s condo; prepped and repainted our white entry doors to all 64 condos; filled and deployed 700 sand bags beneath our boardwalk to protect our waterfront from high water and storms; stripped, repainted, and restrapped all pool chairs and lounges; repaired water leaks in the center tower. As noted above and repeated here, a quality assurance survey was completed this year and compared with the results of a similar survey in 2013. Analysis of the data shows that owner approval of our Association and board of directors’ decisions and communication was overwhelmingly excellent or good. (194 Excellent, 164 Good, 29 Fair, 2 Poor). The 2013 and 2017 quality assurance surveys yielded results that were similarly favorable.
2018
All windows in the north, center, and south towers were re-flashed and repaired; 24 archway areas with aggregate spalling and scaling were repaired; lakeside walls from the lower railings to the flower beds were prepped and repainted; leak in swimming pool main drain was repaired after MAJOR digging and plumbing work after the pool was drained; removed south and center stairs to beach due to high water and storm damage; refurbished teak benches on boardwalk; refurbished and repainted north and south tower basements; south tower Laundry Room totally renovated and painted.
2019
Hired tug, barge, crane, and men at $6,000.00 per day to move 500 concrete tons of our beach “pillows” from their location thirty feet out in the water to a new location against and on top of the existing “pillows” beneath our boardwalk so we could buttress and protect our boardwalk and waterfront from high water and storms; inspected, sandblasted, welded, reinforced, and repainted our footbridge; changed all the locks on all entry doors so they are alike and can be opened by our Resident Manager with a single grand master key; began a major five-year project to remove and replace all cast iron drain pipes with PVC pipes in every condo; repaired leaks in tower walls by spraying elastomeric exterior paint that matches the building’s designed original color; removed wooden platform deck from boardwalk due to high water and major storm damage; launched our first-ever La Croft website.
2020
Waterproofed building by removing/replacing exterior caulking, removing and replacing flashings at roofs and windows, and spray painting all fluted block on the building’s exterior with elastomeric paint (translation – repainted our entire building); sealed aggregate archways; renovated Community Room; added rip-rap on north end beach to stop storm erosion; added heat tape to all roof drains after major 6th-floor flooding caused by a “bomb cyclone” storm in early spring; relocated seagulls on roof that were creating a significant problem with dirt and aggressive behavior (State permit required!); elevators and Mail Room repainted/recarpeted.
2021
Continued plumbing drain project by replacing cast iron pipes in five more stacks with PVC pipe; repaired railings at the parking area overlooking lower access drive and also eastside handrails at levels 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; updated and gained owner approval for revised La Croft Condo Association governance documents in accordance with Michigan condominium and non-profit corporation laws.
2022
Reserve study done by Michigan Reserve Associates in order to gain outside expert assessment of building and grounds needs for next 25 years and anticipate any major assessments that will have to be undertaken by owners; engineering firm, Soils and Structures, conducted soil borings in order to evaluate next steps necessary to stabilize two west porch stacks at the south end of our building (00 stack and 01 stack); north elevator replaced and interior renovation of south elevator completed, and both elevators had a fire safety protocol installed; elevator lobbies and the walkway to the pool from the Mailroom completely renovated; Mailroom Lobby renovated; Year One of landscape replacement was begun in order to refresh flower beds and other plantings, and also clean up overgrown areas; replaced furnace in Community Room; replaced 22 faulty main water shutoff valves that had become corroded in approximately one third of our 64 condos.
2023
Installed aluminum stairs at south end of boardwalk for safe access to beach; replaced small stone retaining wall on boardwalk with timbers; repaired coping tile around the upper edge of swimming pool; cleaned all condo dryer vents to eliminate lint that can be a fire hazard and result in waste of energy due to inefficiency of dryers; painted siding and stucco wall surfaces on east side open walkways; conducted Independent Review, Audit, and Reserve Study in order to ensure that outside experts see things that we might miss (and also ensure that we use national norm data for useful life expectancy and replacement costs as we make decisions about safety, structural integrity, finances, and aesthetics); two structural engineering firms’ recommendations, along with recommendations based on a geotechnical engineers’ new soil borings, caused us to begin a major porch footing stabilization project; old and unclaimed bikes were disposed of, and the bike storage building was cleaned and reorganized for better access.
2024
Balcony stabilization project completed on time and below estimated cost of $1.6 million, and money saved was returned to owners; added three security cameras on campus; scrubbed west side of building to remove moss and prepare surfaces to be repainted due to fade from west sun; new rule prohibiting electric-powered bikes or scooters on our campus; again renovated Laundry Room after flooding caused by contractors who dumped drywall and cement materials down the drain and into our pipes; Laundry Room designated as owner laundry only, not for contractors or guests; completed repainting of east walkway walls; updated pool rules; added AED for safety of owners and guests; plumbing drain pipe stack replacement and landscaping improvements continued.
2025
Once-in-a-century ice storm at the end of March shut down all Northern Michigan electrical power ranging from two to twelve days, including La Croft for almost five days. Thanks to Scott Richards, our Resident Manager, and our emergency generator, we avoided flooding from burst pipes; boat racks and our swimming pool chemical storage room were emptied, cleaned, and excess items disposed of; CPR and AED training offered to owners; completed our five-year plumbing stack drain pipe replacement project; pipes froze in three condos, but Resident Manager Scott Richards caught the problem and connected heaters under sinks to thaw pipes before they burst; he also kept up with the heavy snow removal challenges and monitored daily the 24 condos in which he kept water trickling from pipes for weeks during our coldest winter weather.