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CASSOPOLIS — While a new Cassopolis Village Municipal Complex and the streetscape project may be the big-ticket items in 2020, those are not the only things the village has going on this year.

Some projects are already under way or have been completed, like the mural on the side of a downtown building, which also has a new front, thanks to a grant from Southwest Michigan Realtors Association, a Cassopolis Main Street grant and a private owner investment, or the N. O’Keefe Street reconstruction project that should be completed in time for the Cass County Fair.

“That [the mural] was done with the help of a private investor,” said Cassopolis Village Manager Emilie Sarratore. “We helped them get some grants to be able to do it. Those are the things that really help a community shine.”

There is also the Parkshore Drive project, which is being done at a cost of $580,000, of which, $250,000 came via a grant, and the Lakeshore Drive to downtown connector-boardwalk project, which will include fishing platforms and seating areas. A grant for $140,000 is being used to complete that project.

Then there is the beach, pier, promenade project, which will mean a new beach on Stone Lake off of Disbrow Street behind The Twirl. It will include a food truck alley in the promenade 175-foot long by 12-foot wide pier that will also include fishing and seating areas, an activity area, and transient boat slips.

But perhaps the biggest news is the announcement of a Biggby Coffee opening in the community.

“All of these buildings are being bought up, and there are some new investors in town who want to do some things,” Sarratore said. “We have a Biggby’s [Coffee] coming. That is going in the old barbecue place. There some other project rumbling through downtown that we are trying to help get going. As we make our improvements and make our investment in our self, it will encourage others to do the same.”

No date has been set for groundbreaking on the Biggby Coffee building as it was slowed by the COVID-19 outbreak.