The historic Hackley Administration Building at 349 W. Webster Ave. in Muskegon is back on the market, listed for $1.2 million on Wednesday after a planned $15 million luxury hotel conversion inside the 1892 sandstone structure stalled amid serious structural damage. The building's owner, Wheelfish Group, says it's now looking for a new developer to pick up where it left off — or chart an entirely different course for the property.
A Castle With a Troubled Past Finds New Buyers Wanted
Core Realty Partners listed the building Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to MLive. The building was constructed in 1892 with money donated by philanthropist Charles Hackley, and it later served as a school and then as the Muskegon Public Schools administration building before the district moved out in 2020. A year later, Wheelfish Group founder Brad Playford and his wife, Kathleen, bought the property for just $1, with plans to convert it into some type of mixed-use development.
Those plans eventually crystallized into something far more ambitious: Hackley Castle, a luxury boutique hotel. Wheelfish anticipated spending $15 million to flip the historic building into the hotel, with a target of completing the conversion before summer 2026. The proposed layout called for up to 47 rooms, a speakeasy-style bar and restaurant, and a spa for guests.
Structural Damage Derailed the Timeline
That vision never came to fruition. The hotel venture was stalled by serious structural damage discovered in the building, the outlet reports. The 1892 roof trusses had warped over time, pushing the southeast-facing wall away from the rest of the structure — a problem serious enough that Wheelfish had to build steel support beams running from the basement to the roof just to relieve pressure on the wall and make rebuilding possible.
Roughly $4 million has already gone into stabilizing the building's exterior, and the interior has been stripped down to the studs, according to the listing. Wheelfish Group's Joe Keck told the outlet the company wants to find another developer that has a longer runway to continue the project or take it in a different direction. Keck did not say whether the hotel concept remains feasible, noting that decision would fall to whoever buys the building next.
Earlier Visions for the Sandstone Landmark
The Hackley Administration Building has been the subject of reuse speculation for years. A 2017 feature from Rapid Growth noted that prospects on the table at the time included moving Muskegon City Hall or the Lakeshore Museum Center into the building, with the museum's executive director, Annoesjka Soler, reportedly spending much of her tenure working on plans to relocate the institution there. A 2024 city announcement separately described a planned 45-room boutique hotel called the Hackley Castle Inn and Suites, with an opening originally scheduled for fall 2025, per the city's own release.
Other Historic Muskegon Buildings Finding New Life
The Hackley building isn't the only aging Muskegon landmark undergoing a reuse push. The historic Froebel School is being converted into 46 units of affordable housing through a more than $15 million renovation project led by Samaritas and development partners, according to Fox 17. Developers there hope to welcome residents by spring 2028.
A separate, nearly 100-year-old downtown Muskegon building is also set for a second act — reborn as one of four global engineering hubs for the Fortna Group. That roughly $6 million redevelopment is expected to host approximately 80 engineering employees once complete, Fox 17 reports.
For now, the fate of the Hackley Administration Building rests with whoever decides to take on its $1.2 million listing price and the stabilized, gutted shell inside. Whether that buyer resurrects the castle-hotel concept, pursues the mixed-use plans the Playfords once imagined, or pivots entirely remains an open question Keck left for the next owner to answer.
