The Harrison / Ransom / Gull roundabout officially opened to traffic yesterday, 11/3. It should alleviate congestion at this busy intersection just northeast of downtown, and might play a bigger role in stimulating more development in the area...
Quote:
Harrison Street roundabout is welcomed by nearby businesses
By Al Jones | MLive
November 2, 2017
KALAMAZOO, MI -- The new Harrison Street/Gull Road roundabout opened Friday to vehicular traffic just north of downtown Kalamazoo -- with little fanfare and with little trouble reported...The intersection is the confluence of East Ransom Street, Gull Road and Harrison Street just north and east of downtown Kalamazoo. Stop signs were used previous to manage traffic headed north from Harrison. Work to convert it to a more even-flowing thoroughfare began in late May...
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View south, along Harrison:
Image Source:
Al Jones | MLive
View northeast, along Gull Road:
Image Source:
Al Jones | MLive
A rendering from earlier this year:
Image Source:
MLive | Courtesy City of Kalamazoo / Wightman & Associates, Inc.
...Not super exciting news on its own. What is more interesting to me is the development opportunities that this infrastructure upgrade might help attract. The roundabout makes the district more navigable and accessible for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Given the success of other recent developments in the neighborhood, the City is pushing for proposals from developers to redevelop several more parcels in the River's Edge district, which is roughly bounded by Kalamazoo Ave to the south, Pitcher Street to the west, Frank Street to the north, and the Kalamazoo River to the east. The district is poised to become a hotbed of residential apartments and mixed use development.
The branding of this River's Edge neighborhood and its recent developments have been led by the City and mostly one developer, NoMI, which is responsible for projects including Walbridge Commons, the Ignertia Building, and the Norbridge Building, among others. Pictured below is Walbridge Commons, which opened last summer and features 31 one and two-bedroom apartments and 16 micro-apartments.
Image Source:
Al Jones | MLive
Significant parcels up for redevelopment today and being promoted by the City include:
- 419 Harrison St (empty lot behind Checkers)
- 525 E. Ransom St (a mostly empty lot, northwest corner of Harrison St, Gull Rd and Ransom St, across from MacKenzie's Bakery)
- 617 Harrison St (empty lot half a block north of 525 E Ransom)
- 655 Gull Rd (highly trafficked corner lot where North St meets Gull Rd)
- A nearly 5-acre parcel east of Harrison and South of Gull Rd (former site of Kalamazoo Tank & Silo Co., RFP for this lot was issued July 17 and the deadline was Sept. 28).
I made an overlay showing these parcels, below:
Base Image (Map) Source:
Google Maps
All of these lots have been included on the list of brownfield sites, meaning that there are financial incentives for redevelopment. A previous proposal for 525 E. Ransom - called Harrison Circle - fell through in 2015. That was to be a $15 million, five-story development, including 40,000 SF of business and 30,000 SF for 100 apartment units. Two primary reasons cited for its demise were the delay in constructing the roundabout and two prospective tenants pulling out.
A sketchy rendering of the Harrison Circle development, as originally proposed in 2015:
Image Source:
MLive
So now that the roundabout is open, if new tenants can be secured, hopefully something of similar density *(but a better design) will arise at this area soon. A new RFP for this site had a deadline of November 3, the same day that the delayed roundabout officially opened. Nothing has been made public yet on the results of that RFP (from what I could find).