A few photos of KRESA from a recent group tour (not my own). You can begin to picture how the central commons will come together -




Source: LinkedIn | George Kacan




Source: LinkedIn | CSM Group

Kalamazoo -

Inkster Ave. Bridge progress. While maybe not as unique as it's timber-framed predecessor, it still looks good and will be much more efficient -




Source: Facebook | The City of Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo -

Well, this is mildly interesting. The vacant Hallmark Living building at 3625 W Michigan Ave. might finally be demolished to make way for a 3-story, 223-unit apartment complex. The submitted site plan review documents don't afford much detail architecturally. The entire existing nursing home complex (built in the 1960s) would be demolished, and it looks like the new building would feature a center courtyard with a pool. I assume this will be targeted for students attending adjacent Western Michigan University. The project is simply titled "Kalamazoo Multifamily" and the client is listed as Kalamazoo Realty Holdings, LLC. The architect info appears intentionally left out in the title blocks on the floor plans.










Source: The City of Kalamazoo

Two new developments will be coming to Kalamazoo. The first is a new 4-story hotel in the Milwood neighborhood and the second is a 228-unit, income-based apartment complex that will overlook the Kalamazoo River.

Former Kalamazoo restaurant, gas station, could be transformed into 4-story hotel
https://www.mlive.com/resizer/v2/I4J...280&quality=90
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo...ory-hotel.html


New apartments on Kalamazoo River will offer 228 income-based units
https://www.mlive.com/resizer/v2/VPY...500&quality=90
https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo...sed-units.html

The River's Edge development seems to have been trapped in development limbo for at least 4 years. It will be a mixture of relief & surprise, if / when dirt actually starts moving. Good to see that the unit count has not substantially changed (in fact, it has gone up a bit since 2020). Currently, the vacant site is home to a small encampment of unhoused persons.

As for the proposed Residence Inn, it's pretty "meh" news. But... an income-generating hotel is better than an empty restaurant. The only other immediate hotel options adjacent to the airport currently are the Hampton Inn and the Days Inn (which recently suffered a partial fire).

In other news, I saw this article yesterday, with some info about the design for the new Woodland Elementary, in Portage. Paywalled, but you get the picture -

Also, the City of Kalamazoo has more than $100 million-worth of funding going right now for roadwork projects (and trying to drive around town, it shows). WMUK did a story about it recently -

Lastly, here's some great, recent drone shots of downtown Kalamazoo, taken by Bill Dolak -






Source: Facebook | Bill Dolak

Kalamazoo -

They are beginning to tear up the roads for utility work at the event center site. These four blocks will start to look very different, very soon. Kalamazoo Ave. utility / roadwork on the left -


Source: Facebook | Bill Dolak

On the heels of news about a proposed new Residence Inn near I-94, news now that the existing Residence Inn at the corner of Portage and Kilgore Rds. will reportedly be converted into permanent housing. I have some nostalgia for the older, "cottage-style" hotels with multiple detached buildings, but it is a fading concept. The new hotel will have a much more generic tone. But it is a logical conversion proposal for 80+ units of badly needed housing -

A full remodel of Burdick's is in the works:

https://www.kalamazoocity.org/files/...ns20240628.pdf

Includes a duckpin bowling alley and a massively expanded outdoor seating area along Michigan ave

We dined at Old Burdick's a few months ago and it really needs a refresh. Hopefully this goes well. In studying the plans, I noticed that they will also expand into the gift shop, replacing it with a bar area open to the main lobby (a likely no-brainer for generating more income).

There is a growing trend of new food establishments in Kalamazoo, especially along the downtown Michigan Ave. corridor. In addition to this, Barrio, High Dive, and Crafted Copper have all recently moved downtown, or will open soon. We are in for several more years of downtown infrastructure upgrades (at least), but maybe these are some early fruits of the city's labors to reshape downtown?

This article seems timely, and gets right at that topic:

Nice shots of downtown dig one aligned with pedestrian mall. The corner shot is cool too the new apartments help add height and mass that makes the most of and bring together the more significant structures of K-Zoo.

It’s good to see the event center moving forward it’ll help what’s been an underutilized section of downtown grow moving forward.

Bill definitely has a keen eye for architecture and urban design!

I think a lot of the potential success of the event center will depend on how well-designed (& implemented) it's connections to downtown & the northside are (for all modes of transit - car, bike, foot, bus, etc.) - at this stage, I'm cautiously optimistic that what is coming will be far better than what was there (which was effectively nothing).

Parts of downtown, especially around this site, are completely trashed with construction cones and road barriers - I think there will be a collective sigh of relief when this project, along with the 2-way road conversions, are finally complete.

Battle Creek -

Check out the progress on the new Double Tree by Hilton hotel -







Looks like an upper-level lounge / bar / event space?




Source: LinkedIn | Jessica Daly

I took a long drive on Sunday to check out various construction progress around Kalamazoo and Portage. Presented here in the order I came across them, starting with Kalamazoo (photos are greatly compressed, for ease of uploading) -

At WMU, the new parking deck and pedestrian bridge are taking shape -







Lot 89 is all torn up. Not sure if this is just for repaving project, or if there is something bigger in the works -



Demolition has begun on both the Bernhard Center (old student union building) and Valley 3 dormitories -





Moving downtown, all that remains of these three homes on Allen Blvd. that were destroyed by fire last month -



And right behind here, all that remains of Michikal Ave. -



And near all of this, all that remains of Eleanor St, and Water St., and Cooley St., and Park St. etc. etc. (sensing a theme?)...









...as they push hard with infrastructure work for the future event center, the inner streets have been vacated and mostly demolished -







Much of the downtown construction these days is heavily concentrated in the developing Arcadia West area. One thing I thought they were long done with was the new courthouse, but I noticed that they are now installing finished column wraps over the structural columns. Interesting, because I've heard more than one person comment that they seem too skinny and disproportionate with the scale of the building. It turns out, they just weren't finished with them! No doubt a supply-chain delay -



But enough about buildings. Back to roads! Ransom St. is also all torn up, causing distress for many local small businesses -







Depending on who you talk to, you'd think that streets are becoming an endangered species downtown -



ISK (the older building, not the new one) is getting an ADA ramp and new stairs -



Tiny Houses of HOPE (I love the concept, but I still think the location, at the SE corner of Westnedge & North St., is terrible, and much better suited to some denser mixed-use) -





The new, temporary location for the Alma Powell Branch Library (but honestly, it might make sense that this ends up becoming the permanent home, with some remodeling & site improvement work... we'll see) -



There's really not a lot to see from the street, but the Arcadia Lofts conversion is definitely underway -



Further south, 530 S Rose (Google satellite view is fairly new and already shows the building dwarfing the houses around it) -





Heading to the east side now, 1601 E Main (not the most flattering angle, but it was just a quick drive-by) -

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Ataxa-8Ptf_di68n...024&height=768

Consumers Concrete's sexy new concrete masonry block factory, made out of (you guessed it!) concrete masonry block (corner of Sprinkle & E Michigan Ave) -





KRESA Career Tech Center, which I'm hoping to tour soon, to get some better photos -







The new, dual-branded Hilton Hotel (Tru by Hilton & Home2 Suites by Hilton), at 5185 E Cork St. (Comstock Township) -



For the prophecies sayeth, where once there grew corn, now there shalt be a great gathering of generic-boxy hotels, as far as thine eye can see, and it shall be good...

On to Portage, just a few things to share. First, Pfizer's MAP facility -





Second, the new Portage Central Elementary, one of several currently being built around the city -



Last, a look at Tall Timbers -

Kalamazoo -

The latest from Rose Place - or, as I like to call it - five flavors of siding -

Hi SSP friends. Here are just a few miscellaneous updates -

Kalamazoo -

KRESA Career Connect Campus - opening spring 2025 - here is a fly-over video from July 2024 (turn down the volume unless you love cheesy public domain music) -

• Video Link

A ten home development is in the planning stages for the Eastside Neighborhood, at 700 River St. (right on the edge of what I think is a floodplain). It is currently dubbed "Ampersee Housing, with Playgrown listed as the developer. Several smallish (not tiny) home models -

Site plan -



The 2-Story Bungalow B option -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Hurley & Stewart / Intersect Studio

Seelye Auto is planning a building addition for a car wash and new EV charging station at their dealership at 3802 Stadium Drive. It's the "metal siding special", and it's about as bland as you could get, design-wise. Still, something to document for the day when I get around to making a Kalamazoo-focused "car wash wars" documentary -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Bosch Architecture

Vicksburg -

Restoration of the downtown "Hills Buildings" (at 106 and 108 S. Main) continues (led by the same team behind the Vicksburg Mill project) -





Cornice detail -



A view of the mill, from their new wildflower fields (I'm pretty sure that's the backside of the owner, Chris) -


Source: The Vicksburg Mill

I'll never understand these small house developments
 

I'll never understand these small house developments. They seem like a waste of space —they are always in places that could support higher density.

Why not build rowhouses? Even rowhouses that look like the 'modern farmouse' thing these are trying to be. Are they outlawed by zoning? Would seem a more efficient use of materials-- two whole sides of a dwelling are shared materials, not needing to be exterior weatherproofed. Is it a lack of imagination? Zoning? Code?

The missing middle is crying out for attention, and the population these are aimed at would love to have less maintenance responsibilities, I bet.

Yeah I don't get it either. There's nothing zoning-wise (that I know of) that would prohibit something denser. And the demand certainly seems to be there.

Kalamazoo -

WMU's new Hilltop Village pedestrian bridge was set in place last week -








Source: LinkedIn | Bryan McDowell

Hello again, SSP friends. Just chipping away some more at my summer backlog of random updates (sorry, no new skyscraper announcements today either ;)) -

Kalamazoo -

Eastside Square had its official ribbon cutting on June 25 (there's some more photos at the linked articles below) -


Source: Devin Anderson-Torrez | MLive

With the Eastside Square project done, next up in the slow-but-steady revitalization effort of the Eastside neighborhood might be the redevelopment of 1727 & 1719 E. Main St. Site plan review documents were submitted in June for this commercial redevelopment with upper floor residential. The proposed design is VERY bland, but it is obviously on a tight budget, and it will add 7 new residential units and 3 refreshed commercial spaces to the main street -




Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Brian Peterson

There is yet another cookie-cutter hotel slated to pop-in along the I-94 / Sprinkle Rd. corridor. This one is planned for vacant land at 3700 E Cork St.. It is described as a 4-story / 105-room Holiday Inn Express in the site plan review documents, which strikes me as odd, since the neighboring property is currently a Holiday Inn Express & Suites. I can only guess that they will rebrand its neighbor, once this one is up.

Here's the elevations, from the packet that was submitted more than 3 months ago now. About as exciting as it gets. And based on the material descriptions, this one's gonna be another "EIFS" special :uhh: -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Harbaugh Construction LLC

The Inkster Ave. Bridge officially reopened last week (ribbon cutting held on August 2). No doubt a vast improvement over its predecessor; I'm not sure I like that green paint though -




Source: Facebook | The City of Kalamazoo


Source: Facebook | The City of Kalamazoo

Also in roadwork updates, Howard street just partially reopened. I drove it this weekend; the improvements are subtle but will be impactful to traffic flow in a positive way. There's still a few months left for roadwork but it's nice that a few things are wrapping up around town, during what is a record-setting year for road construction. On that note, The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded the city $25 million towards "multimodal mobility network" updates across 3.5 miles in Kalamazoo, funding more road projects scheduled to start in 2027 (much of it related to the ongoing 2-way street conversions).

There's a relatively new fitness court at Upjohn Park that recently won an Innovation in CDBG Activity award -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo (email blast)

Southside Park was also recently renovated with a new playground and basketball court -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo (email blast)

Sticking with the parks theme, the city installed a new kayak rental kiosk in June, near Riverview Dr. It will be interesting to see how this fares -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo (email blast)

The city unveiled a new downtown mural in June, on the backside of the Monroe Building. The artist is known as Bonus Saves (@bonussaves), and the mural is "dedicated to the kids who call Kalamazoo home, our vibrant art scene, and the movers and shakers who push towards a brighter tomorrow" -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo (email blast)

In April, it was announced that the city will receive $38 million in PROTECT grant monies from the Federal Highway Administration to upgrade stormwater infrastructure and reduce the risk of flooding along the Arcadia Creek near downtown. You can read more about it here -

If we get anything close to this conceptual sketch for Arcadia Creek, it would be a great win -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Hurley & Stewart

Texas Township -

Lastly, I think I missed sharing that KVCC's new Cosmetology and Barbering School (at its main Texas Township campus) opened at the end of May -


Source: LinkedIn | Abonmarche


Source: WWMT NewsChannel 3 | Dawn Kemp

Kalamazoo -

Site plan review documents have been submitted for the Residence Inn by Marriott at 5135 Portage Rd, including some better renderings than what was available & shared on here earlier on. If built, I'd wager this will immediately become the preferred airport-area hotel due to its amenities and new-ness. Dare I say, I even spot some brick at ground-level, near the main entry - that's some real high-end stuff, baby!






Source: The City of Kalamazoo | Architectural Group III

Kalamazoo -

Here's a cool pic of the exposed cross-laminated timber panels, now being installed at the KRESA Career Connect Campus -


Source: LinkedIn | CSM Group

Last week, the first of four houses surrounding the new senior apartments going up at 530 S Rose St. came down. I say first of four, because I think it's only a matter of time before at least one more of these homes comes down. 514 S Rose St. most recently housed Gelbaugh & Gelbaugh, PCA. It was sold to a developer in 2022 for $100K -











Next door, the current state of 530 S Rose St (as of 8/14/24 - they are actually laying up brick now, on the front façade) -



Kalamazoo proper might be getting its first Panda Express. Site plan review documents were recently submitted to redevelop a former Huntington Bank branch at 4300 W Main -


Source: The City of Kalamazoo | NORR