Big day at the Catalyst / 180 E Water St. development site. The pile auger is coming down, and the tower crane base has arrived on site. Crews continue to go gangbusters on formwork and concrete. I think we will see two tower cranes on Kalamazoo's skyline shortly and for a brief while, which is a fairly major accomplishment for this city.

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I suspect that this is the formwork for the foundation to support the crane -
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These photos are from last Friday -
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Also, just a stone's throw away from this site, 151 E Michigan Ave. has some new banner signage and two guys outside doing some measuring (not sure if it was related or a coincidence, because there's been a ton of work at street level all along this stretch all year). If nothing else, it looks like the property manager (Treystar) is getting more aggressive about marketing this beautiful building, which has been largely vacant for a long time. Right behind this building is the catalyst site.

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Two other items of note, in recent news.

Included in this news report is (a) the headline-indicated increase of $10 million, compared to previous stories that mentioned $50 million (inflation? increased scope?), and (b) a new site plan (well, new to me anyway) that reflects some changes, like expanded parking to the north and a second drive from the south - likely determined necessary by preliminary zoning and / or market analysis. There's also some more small outbuildings and a paved clearing to the far north. It's tough to read the text at this resolution - but I think that those are a bus drop-off area, a building maintenance facility, and an equipment shed.
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Source: MLive | Courtesy Paper City Development LLC

Compare to the earlier version -
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Source: My own photo

Somewhat ironic to me is the fact that this firm will move into a practically brand-new space designed by another local firm. But that's also encouraging in a way, because I think it demonstrates on some level a mutual respect between Architecture firms, which are generally notorious for wanting to demonstrate their core design values by designing their own workplace environments. That said, from the renderings, it does look like 7Gen will customize this to fit their particular style.

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Source: MLive | Courtesy | Seven Generations Architecture & Engineering

Counting 7Gen's announced move and Wightman & Associates planned relocation to downtown from Portage, this puts the number of downtown, or near-downtown Architecture firms around 10. And I'm talking within just a square mile or two, and also excluding the dozen-or-so sole practitioner studios and small-to-medium-sized firms in surrounding areas like Portage and the townships. That's pretty significant, and I think, in-part, yet another sign of how healthy (and competitive) the A&E industry area is right now.

Tracking a mix of things right now.

First, some renderings and new information have been made public about the next NOMI development on the Northside / "River's Edge" District. As usual, this MLive article is a little chaotic, but if you weed through it, it does include a lot of info about the planned development.

Boiled down to the key points:

• NoMi Developers LLC. purchased three lots from the BRA in September for $130,000 (525 and 535 E. Ransom St. and 617 Harrison St.).
• The city approved tax breaks contingent on the project securing low-income housing tax credits and mortgage financing through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
• Will be 4 stories, 51,000 SF total, with two food-related businesses (5,000 SF sub-total) and 80 residential units.
• Will be called Harrison Circle Building (it is next to the new roundabout)
• About 45 units will be affordable. Twenty units will be set aside for workforce housing. And 15 units will be listed at market rate. All but four of the 80 planned units will be single-bedroom apartments.
• $13 million - $15 million cost.
• Construction is expected to begin June 2019.
• Plans include a new Metro bus stop, a sheltered bicycle repair space, bicycle parking and $10,000 in improvements to adjacent Harrison Park. There might also be a solar array on the roof.

This development is separate from another one that might be coming along in the area, as proposed by East Lansing-based River Caddis Development Corp. That development could potentially be quite large, including 120 residential units and 12,500 SF commercial space across 5 or 6 buildings at 508 Harrison St. (site of the former Tank & Silo Co. factory).

I made this map last year showing the active parcels offered up for development by the BRA in this area. NOMI now has a concrete plan for 525 E. Ransom St. and 617 Harrison St., and have also grabbed 535 E. Ransom, immediately to the west of the highlighted parcel. The 5-acre parcel east of this would be the River Caddis development.

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I'm glad to see that they are getting this building as close to the street as is likely permitted by zoning. You can also tell that there is some covered parking on the first floor level, which is fairly well-masked from the public side.

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Source: MLive | Courtesy NOMI

Second, the downtown Biggby Coffee (located at 121 E. Michigan Ave.) has just closed its doors. Citing lower-than-expected profitability, they are announcing a relocation to the former Hoekstra's Hardware Store building, which is located near the corner of Crosstown and Portage St. This is surprising in a sense, because it is a run-down, industrial area with many abandoned buildings and almost zero foot traffic. On the other hand, it is a large, 2-story + basement structure about 25,000 SF total, with plenty of room for free on-site parking and a drive through (both of which the downtown location suffered for a lack of). It is also located along one of the primary commuter routes for folks who travel to / from downtown for work each day.

The city has been trying to revamp this area for years. Hoesktra's closing several years back was literally the end of an era - the company was in business for 149 years! Oft considered the longest-running retail business in the city, it was basically the Lowe's / Home Depot of the city, serving the burgeoning post-war neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Hopefully it's relocation here triggers more development, and helps play a role in connecting downtown further south to the Edison Neighborhood, where lots of effort has been concentrated to revamp that small business district centered around Washington Square.

From a Biggby Facebook Post:

Third, another photo update on 180 E. Water St. Yesterday, the tower crane base was positioned. Today, formwork and reinforcing steel is being set around the base. It looks like they might be getting ready to pour this afternoon, over the weekend, or Monday. Also watched the pile auger get disassembled and hauled off-site this morning.

From yesterday, 11/1 -
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From this morning, 11/2 -
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Fourth, relatively big changes are coming for the Kalamazoo Metro public transit system, in the form of reworked bus stops. Many will be removed, some will be added, and some more will be relocated New accessibility upgrades, amenities, and signage, as well as a new WMU Transportation Hub (which would be a standalone project) are also included in the plan.

You can read the entire report here.

Seeing that tower crane going up must be exciting.

That apartment building at Ransom and Harrison - even for low-income housing - is unforgiveable with its architecture, though. Nice layout, but they couldn't face it with fake brick panneling or some kind of cheap painted metal or something? That looks like it's going to be bare concrete painted white or stucco.

Sure is. By the way, they ended up pouring the concrete to anchor the tower crane that same afternoon -

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I agree that the material in the renderings doesn't look great. But they also don't look to be very high quality, final-presentation caliber images. This is probably the best we'll see for renderings, and let's hope that the actual built structure turns out better than these would imply.

In other news, in the rising tide of affordable-housing-related developments in this city, here's a fairly major remodel that may be much-welcomed by some current and future residents.

Before (Now):
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Source: Daniel Vasta | MLive

After:
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Source: MLive

Finally (and this is a little random), I noticed that Kalamazoo College is working on restoring its iconic chapel bell tower. I don't know exactly what's entailed, but there's scaffolding running all the way up. The chapel bells still ring, so I'm guessing the work is more related to exterior restoration - perhaps re-pointing bricks, etc. A few photos I took yesterday, at various zooms - thought it was interesting enough to post -

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Lots of activity on Thursday, getting ready for a pretty big pour that happened Friday. You can easily make out where the entrance ramp to the parking deck is going to be now, in the space between the two foundation walls in the first image below -

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In other news (and just in time for winter weather), workers at the Peregrine 100 project just wrapped up a heated sidewalk system, which will add to the city's growing network of heated walks. While the city maintains much of the heated system along The Mall, it also encourages private developers to include this in their plans when it makes sense. The Exchange, the above-referenced Catalyst development, and the 4-story AVB development all have plans to include it.

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Source: City of Kalamazoo Facebook Page

I know I've been posting quite a few photos of this project (probably enough to garner a separate thread), but I have such a great vantage point, and it is rather exciting to see this former parking lot transform into a building. As of today, the tower crane is installed. These photos are from the past few days, showing crane assembly and ongoing foundation work. The weather was not very conducive to erecting a crane. Those guys at the top are fearless!

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Loving this dusk view with TWO tower cranes on the skyline!
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Well, well, well...

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PlazaCorp plans $42M Hilton Garden Inn redevelopment in Kalamazoo

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Sexy. I'm still a bit confused about what the new construction is and what is existing. I know the Rose Street Market building, but can't picture the rest of the block. Anyway, this reminds me of what they are doing with the Shinola Hotel project in downtown Detroit.

Kalamazoo is booming! The Mlive article is reporting the Home 2 Suites will be built on the parking lot adjacent to the Rose Street Market building. I definitely see the Shinola Hotel resemblance as well.

Thought this was a cool addition to downtown Kzoo:

Retro gaming bar opens Friday in downtown Kalamazoo


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This seems to be an interesting trend in bars. Lansing has one called The Grid:

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The Grid

Well you guys beat me to it! I was wondering when PlazaCorp would release more info about the Rose St. Market redevelopment. Glad to see this is still alive! The building in the foreground of the second image LMich posted is what exists today. Everything else behind that would be new. Looks like the new building will consist of a 6 story and 8 story portion, with several different facades. The article is somewhat unclear on whether the 6-story piece would be part of the Home2Suites or the "Boutique Hotel" portion.

What intrigues me is that it almost looks like there are two new skybridges proposed; one jutting south from the new addition, and one east, from the existing building. The east one makes more sense to me; it would connect to the existing Arcadia Parking Deck that PlazaCorp bought from the city last year. But that would cross over Rose Street and the article makes no mention of it. The one that connects south though...that's rather interesting. It would go over Eleanor Street and presumably tie-in to the existing Arcadia Buildings, which contain leasable office space, and which PlazaCorp also owns. I wonder if any of the proposed hotel function might spill over into these buildings, which I think are not leased to full capacity.

I'm a little confused by the wording in the article too, on the point of sequencing. Would they start work on just the boutique hotel (within the existing building) in 2019, and then the separate hotel (the new building) would come after, in 2021? I guess I'm confused by the article title, and this sentence in particular, in the article -

"PlazaCorp is planning $40 million in projects including the addition of residential units, office and retail space and a second hotel in 2021."

So..is the 2nd hotel the Home2Suites (and the first the boutique hotel)? The article title says that the Hilton Garden Inn redevelopment is $42 on its own. Is the Hilton Garden Inn the same thing as the "Boutique Hotel"? And is that different from the Home2Suites? Almost makes it sound like there are 3 different hotels planned, which I think is wrong. MLive generally falls short when it comes to clarity though.

The retro gaming bar sounds cool too (although I think the name sounds dumb). I didn't even notice that Casa Bolero had closed until a few weeks ago. This should do well, near all of the breweries and the downtown AMC theater.

I would die a happy man if there were three tower cranes gracing Kzoo's skyline all at once. But I am sure that the tower crane at The Exchange will come down long before PlazaCorp gets moving on their new hotel building.

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Couple of things happened these past few days.

First, The Exchange reached another milestone - the final concrete pour on the building occurred Wednesday. It was a chilly day for such a feat. This is the equivalent of the topping off ceremony for the building.

In addition to the anchor tenant, Chemical Bank, the article states that RX Optical has also signed-on to lease space in the new building.

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Source: 24 Hour News 8 Web Staff (Wood TV8) | Courtesy Orion Construction

Second, crews have now completely removed the dam that once spanned Portage Creek at Alcott Street, in the area of former paper mill operations. With combined funding from the Kalamazoo River Natural Resource Damage Trustees and DEQ, crews were also able to decontaminate soils in this area, which is slowly being developed into a new health and social services campus for the region. This is just one part of a much larger effort that has been going on for years to clean up Kalamazoo's waterways.

Third, the City unanimously approved the first of many new neighborhood development plans in the works. This one, for the North Side, is linked to two decades of work. Most of the neighborhood plans that are now in-progress were spurred by Imagine Kalamazoo 2025, which kicked off early 2017. Crucial to the North Side plan are some zoning changes that will try to establish three more distinct commercial corridors (along Westnedge, Burdick, and between Ransom & Nort Streetsh)., as well as a cultural district. There are similar draft neighborhood plans in the works for other spots in the city, including the Eastside Neighborhood, Edison Neighborhood, Oakwood Neighborhood and Vine neighborhood. These plans are intended to pair with other, city-wide reforms that are in-development, including a new "Complete Streets" plan and more Form-Based codes.

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Source: MLive | Courtesy City of Kalamazoo

180 Water Street gets a boost towards seeing its completion.

BTW, planning any updates for South Rose at East Lovell (can't wait until this gets a name)?

Very impressed with the goings-on in and around Kalamazoo. It's nice to see a town of its size building in its downtown.

When I lived in Lansing, I was always so jealous of Kalamazoo, mostly its bigger and better downtown fabric, beer scene, its two colleges, proximity to Chicago, etc.

So what is driving this new mini office boom? I see the tenants for this one will be primarily nonprofits (Kalamzoo Promise), but do the locals see this as a long-term trend or the recent growing economy?

BTW, I love the heated sidewalk projects.

I'll have to get over there soon. Ever since we moved, it's not on my direct commute anymore, but I still work just a few minutes' walk from there. Agreed - it needs an official name - "that building at South Rose and East Lovell" is a mouthful to say.

I guess it's part of the bigger national trend of renewed interest in living and working downtown. And I hope (and feel) that it will be long-term and not just a fad, leading to greater and greater increases and returns with downtown housing and commercial real estate. There is a plethora of non-profits and development-savvy local interest groups that have been promoting Kalamazoo hard, locally and abroad. Also a City Commission, Planning Department, and BRA that all seem very intent on keeping up with, or ahead of the curve, when it comes to promoting urban development through financial incentives and zoning changes. I think local leaders here are pretty progressive when compared to other small-tier cities, especially when it comes to trying to work with developers. There's this sense of get in the game and compete, or be left behind in the dust. And Kalamazoo has surprisingly stepped up to the plate time and time again. I don't expect another 15-story tower before the next downturn, but with each new building, it slowly defines Kalamazoo as a more urban area than many would think, and further increases the likelihood of renewed interest in building downtown.

The Associated Builders and Contractors Western Michigan Chapter will actually be presenting its economic forecast for the region on December 4 at the Radisson. It would be interesting to attend this.

Well, this WMU release for the envisioned South Neighborhood involves much more than I thought it would. It would pretty much restructure the entire layout for 1/4 of the main campus.

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Source: MLive | Courtesy WMU

Another (small) mixed-use development, potentially coming to the west side of downtown. Would consist of (2) 3-story buildings, each with 2 floors of commercial space and a top floor of apartment units. 18 market-units total. It would replace a closed auto shop at 615 W. Kalamazoo Ave. A combination of tax credits and incentives could be applied.