LAKE MICHIGAN COLLEGE

Miller Davis served as construction manager for the new $7.5 million, 14,000-square-foot facility that houses Lake Michigan College’s wine and viticulture program. Located on LMC’s Benton Harbor campus, the Welch Center includes a large tank room, bottling room, barrel room, dry storage area, and laboratory. The facility also contains classrooms, offices, and an open commons area designed to encourage student collaboration, special events, and wine tastings.

The Welch Center is the first commercial teaching winery in the Midwest. It replaces the current two-room temporary lab setup, which the wine and viticulture program was using in another building on campus. LMC’s wine and viticulture program was established in 2015 to support Southwest Michigan’s rapidly growing wine industry.