This is a teeny bit interesting. The City has had a desire to redevelop their public parking lot #9 (in the haymarket district, behind the Main Street East Building) for some time now. Today, out of the blue, a crew was doing soil boring tests in the parking lot, which to me can only mean that something preliminary must be in the works:
From Downtown Kalamazoo Inc.'s
website:
Quote:
Maximizing the use of land downtown is paramount as we undertake the implementation of the Downtown Comprehensive Plan. A significant amount of land downtown is vacant or covered by parking lots. Redeveloping this underutilized property for private housing, mixed use or parking ramps has to be one of the key objectives to increasing tax base. The Haymarket Parking Lot #9 located at E. Water St. and Edwards St. is Central City Parking’s most productive parking facility from a demand standpoint. It also offers excellent growth potential due to its central location and proximity to other recent redevelopment projects since 2000.
Redevelopment of the 2 acre parking lot for mixed use housing, retail and offices has been proposed in the past. A critical element of any plan for the site will be the incorporation of a multi-story parking ramp within the development. DKI and the city must continue to work on a strategy in partnership with a developer that supports future parking and shares the vision for this property.
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Apart from the parcel on the corner of Edwards and Michigan Ave. (former Wendy's location) and Arcadia Commons West, I've thought for a while that this has to be about the primest downtown real estate left to be developed.