[DetroitMan]

Kalamazoo wants to transform the ‘spaghetti bowl’ into a vibrant gateway to downtown

City commissioners voted to adopt the West Gateway Plan during their Monday, Oct. 20, meeting.

The plan is a guiding document, said Deputy City Manager Rebekah Kik, outlining the kind of development the city wants to see along Stadium Drive and Michigan Avenue as they lead into downtown.

The goal is to bring the pedestrian-friendly feel of Rose Street or the Kalamazoo Mall to the west, Kik said, at a smaller scale that makes sense for the neighborhood.

Rather than parking lots lining the streets, the plan envisions two- and three-story buildings along Michigan Avenue. Street-level units might host businesses, while apartments could fill the upper floors.

Plans stretch from the area of Stadium Drive and Oakland Drive to Michikal Street’s intersection with Kalamazoo Avenue and surrounding streets. Notre Dame Architecture students identified developable properties along the route, highlighted in red on the map below. “It’s their private property, they can do what they want with it, of course,” Kik said. But city staff are meeting with property owners to present the plan and gauge interest.

“We have a vision,” Kik said. “We’ve done engagement. We know what we want for this area and now we want to look for developers who want to develop our vision as opposed to the other way around.”

The busy road, openness of parking lots and vacant buildings, plus the the lack of pedestrian crosswalks and signals make this area feel “hostile,” Kik said.

It’ll feel “incredibly different” come the two-way conversion of Michigan Avenue in 2029 and the addition of the Kalamazoo Event Center in 2027, Kik said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo...-downtown.html