KALAMAZOO / PORTAGE / BATTLE CREEK | Development Thread

[deja vu]

There's a downtown Kalamazoo placemaking workshop scheduled for tonight -

To bring life to overlooked parts of downtown, city plans feedback event
MLive | Audrey Whitaker
January 13, 2024

KALAMAZOO, MI -- You don’t have to be an architect or city planner to tell city officials what you think of their plans for downtown Kalamazoo. City officials are hosting a workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 16 followed by an open house the following day, Wednesday, Jan. 17. Both events are scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Van Deusen Room of the downtown branch of the Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 S. Rose St...

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by deja vu

There's a downtown Kalamazoo placemaking workshop scheduled for tonight -

I ended up attending both days of the workshop. Mostly out of curiosity to see what the process is, where things are at with design, and what the collective mindset is. Overall conclusions:

1. They are still very early in the process (just at the conceptual level).
2. SmithGroup is currently contracted only through Schematic Design. Then the city will evaluate.
3. They are studying 4-5 different downtown areas for placemaking enhancements. Results will be reported for the city, to help them prioritize and budget for improvements.
4. The participation was pretty light (only about 25 folks the first night, and less than that the second night). I don't think the event was advertised very well, and it being on a weekday at 5:30 pm with bad weather probably did not help.
5. Demographically, the representation at the workshop was mostly middle class, middled-aged (or older), white / Caucasian. Not too surprising perhaps, though the design team did acknowledge this and explained that they received a greater representation of diversity in the feedback from earlier in the process last fall. There is also an online survey option.
6. Lots of discussion around non-vehicular circulation and connections. The most "controversial" probably being whether or not to re-open the two blocks of the Kalamazoo Mall that are north of Michigan Ave. to vehicular traffic.

Overall, I'm excited that they are studying this, but still a bit skeptical about what will actually be implemented. The updated conceptual drawings will be posted soon for online viewing. A little more info / news coverage below-

Residents invited to shape Kalamazoo's future at downtown re-imagination workshop
WWMT News Channel 3
January 17th 2024

Separately, this video flyover is out-of-date now, but shows progress at KVCC's Career Connect Campus -

• Video Link

[DetroitMan]

New renderings for $300M downtown arena cast spotlight on Western Michigan University

Leaders developing a $300 million arena in downtown Kalamazoo have unveiled new images for what it might look like.

Developers and others working on the project shed more light on the project on Thursday, Jan. 25, at an economic forum at the Radisson hotel. Bill Johnston, chairman of Greenleaf Companies and Catalyst Development — the company building the arena — spoke about the development Thursday, and said he’s excited to release new renderings for the public to see. “This has been going around conceptual stage for nearly 22 years,” Johnston said.

The project never seemed to get off the ground before, but it has now, Johnston said to the sold-out crowd at the forum.

He described the materials being used for the arena and said it will have an identity based on Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo. “Go Broncos!” Johnston said while talking about the work. Johnston graduated from WMU with a bachelor’s degree in 1970 and a master’s degree in 1974. He is married to billionaire Stryker Corp. heir Ronda Stryker. One rendering shows a WMU bronco on display of the side of the building, which has an estimated 380,000-square-foot footprint.

Johnston acknowledged there can be fear about new developments, but said project organizers are committed to making the development benefit the Kalamazoo area. He estimated it would draw 700,000 to 800,000 people to downtown per year. “We are committed to making sure this center activates and amplifies everything about our community,” Johnston said.

The arena is slated to be built on four blocks of land at the corner of West Kalamazoo Avenue and North Westnedge Avenue on the west side of downtown.

The building will house some Western Michigan University sports including hockey, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. It will also house the Kalamazoo Wings hockey team, among other sporting events. The new arena will be the site of all current events that regularly take place at Wings Stadium now, Johnston said.

It will be a place for student athletes to develop more than just sports skills, and to help them in other areas of their lives, he said.

“We are not building just an arena. We are building an athletic performance center that is co-located with an arena and co-located with an event center,” Johnston said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/202...ight-on-western-michigan-university.html

[jkazoo]

The Arena-area site plans show a parking ramp sitting on the site south of Arcadia Creek previously planned for high-rise residential development. I hope this prompts more dense residential further west toward the WMU campus along Michigan / Stadium Dr.

And does the 'multi-use event hall' seem kinda .... small?