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
-
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