The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo is eyeing several prominent parcels for expanding their presence in the city. The site, located at the intersection of E Vine and Portage Streets, is comprised of four parcels, several of which were recently cleared -
825 and 847 Portage Street + 720 and 726 E. Vine Street. Most recently, it was home to Grapevine Furniture. B&G Club plans to build a new, 2-story Community Service Center here.
This could be a good anchor organization in an area that is lacking cohesion and walkability. The site is more or less a no-man's land, positioned in-between Downtown, South Town, the Vine Neighborhood, and the Edison Neighborhood (although I think it technically lies within Edison). It's sort of industrial, sort of residential, sort of commercial, sort of open space. There are busy roads and train tracks nearby. The area has born decades of decline, demolitions, and disinvestments. It has higher poverty and crime (I feel like every time I say this about an area of Kalamazoo, there happens to be a police vehicle in the street view). Only recently has new development centered around Washington Square - the small commercial center of the Edison neighborhood) - spurred greater interest and reflected a renewed effort to stabilize the area.
A Special Use permit is required for such a function in the current M-1 district. This went before the Planning Commission at their
September 2020 meeting, and I'm assuming it passed, under recommendation from the commission. There's no publicly shared massing yet, but I'm glad to see it will at least be 2 stories and stay fairly close to the lot lines along Portage and Vine.
