Development news has been very slow / quiet lately for Arcadia Commons West - the barren, multi-block undeveloped area west of downtown that the city has been trying to revitalize for decades. I thought I read somewhere that there would be new concepts presented Fall of this year, but I have seen nothing. I think the fact that the land is publicly owned has really caused things to drag. I'm curious if there's anyone out there reading this that knows more on the status of things.
Meanwhile, I've been looking back at the earlier proposal by RISE Real Estate, the Georgia-based developer that partnered with Ann Arbor-based Architect Lord Aeck Sargent to pitch a plan to the City in Summer 2015. They were up against two local developers that partnered together, AVB & Hinman (a third developer, Cleveland-based Fairmont Properties, withdrew early on). RISE had a much better-looking proposal than AVB / Hinman, largely residential in nature, with 300 - 325 units, a few restaurants & retailers, and a promenade. 3-4 story buildings with continuous street walls reflected new urbanist vibes. AVB / Hinman's proposal was focused more on finding a sole commercial anchor tenant and then determining what sorts of development would happen around it (reminiscent of the Costco-anchored Corner @ Drake development). RISE was selected in 2015 over AVB / Hinman, but later pulled out for reasons unknown, but probably related to financing challenges.
Here's some concept images still on Lord Aeck Sargent's
website:
And as a reminder, here's the site master plan as it stands today (presented earlier this year). The biggest difference is that it shows the county's proposed courthouse
occupying the block that is south of the County Mental Health building. In the Lord Aeck Sargent plan, the potential courthouse site was shown one block east of this:
Source:
WoodTV
Some may not know that prior to all of this, a sports arena / event center idea was pitched in 2009, which would have moved the minor-league hockey team Kalamazoo Wings downtown. But this was officially dead by 2012:
Source:
MLive
I hope there's some action soon on this, and that whatever is proposed is at least as dense as the RISE / Lord Aeck Sargent plan of 2015.