I took a few walks around downtown this past week to see some of the smaller changes in our community -
The city's first organized mural festival -
Brush the Block - is taking place this week. Six new 'permanent' murals are being painted around the city, accompanied by food, live music, and festivities. I happened upon a few in-progress, during my walk -
145 Farmers Alley (backside of former Gilmore's Dept. Store) -
128 Portage (Stamped Robin, about to start) -
161 E Michigan (Haymarket Building) -
There are at least 3 other large murals around town, in addition to these. Graphic posters and temporary window art installations are also going up concurrently. These colorful posters are being installed on the walls of the Epic Center -
While I blinked, the apartment conversion at 266 E Michigan was finished, including this new functional addition on the back, along Bates Alley. They really just built it into the roadway (good for them)! It is aptly-named "Coney Island Lofts" - after the long-term ground floor tenant that still operates there -
Somebody crashed into the historic storefront of Main Street East a
few weeks ago at 2:30am. Authorities believe alcohol was a factor and they were reaching speeds of 100 mph. Six people in the car; amazingly, nobody died -
The storefronts of Metropolitan Center are mostly vacant these days, apart from the omnipresent Subway and this relatively-new poke bowl place, "Just Fresh" - which seems to be doing business -
The former Newman's (Catholic) Bookshoppe (340 E Michigan Ave) is now home to the
Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition -
Progress on the reimagined Burdick's, in the ground floor of the Radisson -
Copper's Dog House appears to have closed, on the mall. This tiny storefront has been a dozen+ food businesses. None seem to last longer than a season -
Horizon Bank moved in to to the old Kalamazoo Savings Bank building at 151 E Michigan Ave -
I like this view of the old V & A Bootery, with the old signage exposed and work ongoing to convert it to the expanded home of the Kalamazoo Candle Co. I like to imagine those two guys are reminiscing about the old days -
It appears that exterior facade restoration work has started on the old First Baptist Church Building, built in the 1850's and now owned by KNAC -
Indeed there are more changes than this downtown; this is just what I happened to notice on my walk. There are still lots of empty storefronts post-covid; the State Theatre remains shuttered, which contributed to the
closure of long-time eatery Harvey's on the Mall. Shockingly, a mattress store has opened in the ground floor of Mall Plaza. I give it 2 months, tops. It seems like some other new restaurants and retail might be coming...