KALAMAZOO / PORTAGE / BATTLE CREEK | Development Thread

[deja vu]

Battle Creek -

The historic Anson Building, located at 119 W Michigan Avenue, is undergoing a $3 million restoration. There was an open house on Thursday to showcase the progress that has been made on this structure which had been vacant for nearly 30 years. The complete vision includes residences, tenants, a community co-op market, and a restaurant -

Historic Anson Building nears completion after decades of vacancy in Battle Creek
WWMT News Channel 3
September 26, 2024

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Work on the historic Anson Building in downtown Battle Creekis almost complete. Thursday, a special open house was held to showcase all of the work that's been done inside the building located at 119 West Michigan Avenue. The building sat vacant on West Michigan Avenue for close to three decades. However, Battle Creek Unlimited, or BCU, purchased the building and installed a new roof in 2020. In May, the City of Battle Creek approved tax breaks for the proposed property...

Source: WWMT

[deja vu]

Pavilion Township -

Industrial Partners USA with Majority Builders just completed another massive industrial spec building on the outskirts of Kalamazoo. The 624,000 SF building, locate at 5720 East N Avenue, was constructed in two phases and has direct access to rail facilities. IPUSA is also the developer behind similar recent spec buildings in Portage and Battle Creek -


Source: LinkedIn | Majority Builders, Inc.

Bye bye farmland - hello warehouse and generic public domain music!

• Video Link

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

A 36,000 SF substance abuse recovery facility - Enlightened Recovery - held a ribbon cutting this past week at 1430 Alamo Ave. on the city's west side. This heavily-renovated old medical building had been vacant for years. It has been converted into something that I think there is a great need for in our city -

New substance abuse treatment facility will bring 80 beds to Kalamazoo
Ryan Boldrey | MLive
September 26, 2024

KALAMAZOO, MI — A new holistic-driven, alcohol and substance abuse treatment facility will begin admitting patients this October in Kalamazoo. The 36,000-square-foot facility, Enlightened Recovery, is opening soon at 1430 Alamo Ave., in the city’s West Douglas neighborhood. A ribbon cutting is planned for Thursday, Sept. 26 at the treatment center...

Source: Devin Anderson-Torrez | MLive

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by deja vu

There is yet another cookie-cutter hotel slated to pop-in along the I-94 / Sprinkle Rd. corridor. This one is planned for vacant land at 3700 E Cork St.. It is described as a 4-story / 105-room Holiday Inn Express in the site plan review documents, which strikes me as odd, since the neighboring property is currently a Holiday Inn Express & Suites. I can only guess that they will rebrand its neighbor, once this one is up.

Well, mystery solved for this one, with the announcement Tuesday that the old Holiday Inn at 3630 E. Cork St. will be converted into a shelter, focused on providing housing for families in need within the county -

Kalamazoo County will use $5.2M to turn Holiday Inn into family homeless shelter
Brad Devereaux | MLive
October 1, 2024; Updated October 2, 2024

KALAMAZOO, MI — Kalamazoo County is moving forward with plans to convert a hotel into a homeless shelter for families with children, announcing the location of the project and approving money for the purchase. The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners, with financial support from the cities of Kalamazoo and Portage, approved $4.5 million to purchase a hotel Tuesday, Oct. 1, during a county board meeting...

The hotel as it appears now -

Source: Google

I wonder what impact (if any) this will have on the adjacent Four Points by Sheraton hotel.

[deja vu]

Ross Township -

The Bluffs at Gull Lake opened to residents this summer. The four-building, 48-unit apartment complex at 12135 M-89 offers 1 BR to 3BR units, with rates ranging from $1,500 to $2,500 / mo. -

New ‘luxury lakeside’ apartment complex opens in Kalamazoo County
Ryan Boldrey | MLive
September 17, 2024

Source: MLive | Provided by LKF Marketing

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

Here's a random one for a lazy Sunday morning:

Roughly 215 seats were removed from the main orchestra seating level to create two, permanent center aisles at WMU's Miller Auditorium. Before these aisles were carved out, the auditorium boasted 3,419 seats. With the reduced capacity, it will still have over 3,000 seats (most of the traveling Broadway shows reportedly top out at 2,000 ticket sales). This means Miller will still be the largest theatre in the vicinity by a good margin, even with the seating reduction. I was never a big fan of the continental seating - it was the preferred configuration on Broadway, when Miller was built, but it is less common nowadays. So now we'll get the best of both worlds: more walking aisles for easier seat access, while retaining the deeper leg room in front of each seat (as a product of the former continental seating aisle clearance requirements) -

Miller Auditorium renovated ahead of Broadway’s ‘The Lion King,’ capacity shrinks
Aya Miller | MLive
October 5, 2024

Source: Aya Miller | MLive

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo Township -

Azon - an international building material company with local roots since the 1970's - announced it is expanding its Kalamazoo Township location at 2204 Ravine Rd. with the goal of relocating its corporate headquarters there from the city proper. Construction already started in September, with plans to wrap up the $2.4 million project in June 2025. Their current office building, located at 643 W. Crosstown Parkway, was recently purchased by Housing Resources, Inc., which in-turn is relocating its staff there from 420 E Alcott St. -

International company invests $2.4M to build new Kalamazoo County headquarters
Audrey Whitaker | MLive
October 2, 2024

HRI moves into new $1.3M Kalamazoo home the week after nixing homeless pods project
Ryan Boldrey | MLive
September 13, 2024

Source: MLive | Margaret Roberts

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

The rebuilt Michikal Street officially reopened to traffic on Tuesday. Haters gonna hate, but this looks vastly improved over what we had before. For now, it remains 1-way southbound, but the plan is to eventually convert this to 2-way traffic, as connecting arterials get converted -








Source: Facebook | The City of Kalamazoo

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo Township -

This is pretty big dreaming for the relatively-small township of ~ 22,500 persons (of which I am currently 1). The purchase of ~17-acres of land at 3006 Douglas Avenue for $1 million was approved at a meeting on September 9 -

How Kalamazoo Township could pay for new $50M fire station, police/township hall
Audrey Whitaker | MLive
October 6, 2024

KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI — Kalamazoo Township wants to rebuild a fire station, its police headquarters and Township Hall in 2025, but it will likely need extra taxpayer support to get it done. Just how much taxpayers will be asked to contribute to the $50 million project will be up to the newly-elected township board after the Nov. 5 election...

$50M project planned to build new township hall, police headquarters
September 10, 2024
Audrey Whitaker | MLive

KALAMAZOO TOWNSHIP, MI -- On a typical weekday in Kalamazoo Township’s police department, eight employees sit in a space built in 1977 to accommodate four people. Employees squeeze past each other. Equipment won’t fit in designed storage areas. Employees in the florescent-lit office must tune out the chatter of conversations that seep though the movable walls...

If plans move forward, the township could eventually relocate its center of services from the east side to the west side, from a tight, urban island parcel to a relatively huge, semi-rural site. It's unclear what portion of the below property would go to the township (it currently reads as a singular, 74-acre parcel on public records, so presumably there is some subdividing in play) -


Source: Google Maps, October 11, 2024

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

Some updates.

I took a walk around the perimeter of the event center site on Wednesday. It is a vast gap in the urban setting right now. Nature has even tried to gain a foothold in some spots, though it will be short-lived -









Meanwhile, a Northside neighborhood meeting about the development left more questions than answers, Thursday night -

Northside residents hear plans and ask questions about the $300M Kalamazoo Event Center
Al Jones | Second Wave Media Southwest Michigan
Thursday, October 17, 2024

Here's a recent photo of the Lofts at Ironworks development, near the event center site -


Source: Facebook | PlazaCorp

I also took a stroll for the first time along the rebuilt Michikal St. walkway. It feels completely different here now -





Downtown, First united Methodist Church is getting an exterior restoration & cleaning -



Check out the progress (inside & out) at KRESA's Career Connect Center -

• Video Link

Lastly, in case you missed it -

$50M Kalamazoo Forward Ventures becomes Southwest Michigan’s first Black-owned investment fund
Al Jones | Second Wave Media Southwest Michigan
September 26, 2024

[deja vu]

Oshtemo Township -

The Super 8 Motel that was at 618 Maple Hill Dr. has been demolished, after being deemed uninhabitable earlier this year by the township for various fire & life safety violations. It was purchased by AVB & Hinman for $1.5 million in August, after originally being listed for $2.3 million. The 3-story, 62-room hotel was a pretty bleak property, located behind a strip mall and functioning in its last years more like a halfway house. No word on if something will replace it yet, or if the lot will maybe be given back to nature for a while, while the developers decide what to do. The hotel was built in 1985 and last renovated in 2013 -


Source: Facebook | Edward Newhouse

Earlier photos, from June -




Source: Audrey Whitaker | MLive

[deja vu]

Portage -

Tall Timbers is effectively finished, with move-in scheduled for December 1. You can still see some of the spring tornado damage in the background -


Source: Facebook | AVB / AJ Scheffers

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

This news is over a month old now, but it's worth tracking on here. Friendship Village - one of the region's most well-established & desirable senior living communities - has shared some major development plans that could kick-off fall 2025. Plans include include as many as ten new buildings, that would result in a net total of 428 units across the 75-acre campus located on N Drake Rd -

Senior living facility plans 10 new buildings in Kalamazoo
Audrey Whitaker | MLive
September 4, 2024

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Developers at a Kalamazoo senior living facility are planning additional meetings with residents after some components of a new project angered neighbors. The 72-acre campus at 1400 N. Drake Road welcomed its first residents in 1975. Nearly 50 years later, Friendship Village officials are planning a major update to expand the facility...

Per the article, proposed work would include:

• Demolition of an existing maintenance building, a guard shack, two garages, a three-story independent living wing and a single-story skilled nursing wing
• Construction of 40 unit, single-story skilled nursing facility
• Construction of a three-story, 80 unit independent living building with underground parking
• Construction of two, three-story independent living additions, a total of 110 units
• Construction of four, single-story garden homes with basements
• New sidewalks, landscaping, outdoor amenity spaces and surface parking areas
• Construction of a two parking garages

Everything shown in white in the below master plan would be new -


Source: MLive | City of Kalamazoo

[deja vu]

Comstock Township -

Well, this came out of nowhere!

Redevelopment plan would bring lofts, brewpub to Comstock Township
Josh Sanchez | Wood TV 8
October 20, 2024

COMSTOCK TWP. Mich. (WOOD) — A redevelopment plan is heading to a presentation in front of the Comstock Township Board Monday night.The Riverfront Redevelopment would transform a 2-acre section of land near the intersection of King Highway and River Street. Retail space and a few rental homes currently sit on the property. According to meeting documents with a concept site plan, the new development would feature two buildings hosting first floor commercial space along with a total of 12 second-floor lofts. The development would also bring in a Bistro/brewpub space overlooking the Kalamazoo river and five units of two-story town homes...

The full meeting packet can be found here. And here is the site under consideration. If this development comes to fruition, it would go a long way in helping Comstock establish a sort of actual downtown identity / core of its own -


Source: Comstock Township

[deja vu]

Kalamazoo -

Here's a small little project (with potential big impact), planned for 1109 Engelman Avenue, in the Eastside neighborhood. 'Reach Sober Living' has plans to provide additional recovery housing with a new 4-unit build on a vacant residential lot. It's a simple proposal, but good-looking infill, and with a good mission. This was submitted for site plan review in February, I'm just now getting around to posting it. I'll have to drive by sometime to confirm if it is actually under construction yet -




Source: The City of Kalamazoo

[deja vu]

^ as a follow-up to my previous post - I went by here yesterday and it is indeed under construction. Fencing is up and foundations have been poured for what is being called The Villas at Engelman -

[deja vu]

Here's some non-Kalamazoo updates -

Battle Creek -

The new DoubleTree by Hilton officially opened last Friday, and with a revised final price tag of $75 million (I had this previously tracking as $59 million in the rundown) -

Battle Creek hotel reopens with hopes of economic boost
Josh Sanchez | Wood TV 8
October 18, 2024

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) — The doors of the former McCamly Plaza Hotel in Battle Creek officially reopened Friday as the new DoubleTree by Hilton. Developers say the transformation took $75 million and three years to complete. Area business owners hope the new “economic engine” will drive further revitalization to the district...

Source: Wood TV 8

Also in Battle Creek, a new housing development known as "The Blue Light Project" is planned for the site of the former KMart building at 200 Capital Ave. that was demolished in spring 2021. It took me a while to get around to posting this. An article from April explains that the project has been awarded $1.65 million in low-income housing tax credits from the State -

'Our blue light special has now begun': Housing project in Battle Creek getting $1.65M boost
Liz Shepard | Battle Creek Enquirer
April 4, 2024

...The project is being developed by Edison Community Partners, LLC and will create 48 affordable as well as 48 market rate units in Battle Creek, the governor's office said in a press release... while there is more work to be done, the developers have a fairly aggressive timeline on getting work started...

While I don't know anything about Edison Community Partners, their rather sparse website shows they are based out of Kalamazoo (as in, Edison Neighborhood) and indicates that they are a community-focused real estate development company and consulting firm, focused on fostering racial equity and social change through inclusive and affordable housing. I could find now imagery for the proposed development yet.

Pavilion Township -

Here's a recent shot of Abbey42. Construction is still ongoing, but the first few buildings appear very close to finished -


Source: Facebook | Abbey42

[BrewInKzoo]

Some updates from the brownfield meeting minutes from September, published at the 10/17 meeting, regarding 116 W. Cedar:

Mr. Curt Aardema, AVB, said they have been working on this for a year and a half or more to find a development
formula that works on this site. He said they are working on a smaller version and maybe breaking the former
version into phases as well. The project they’re focusing on is a four-story residential-oriented building tying into
some of the momentum they have seen with the 400 Rose project. They have had great response from the
community on the 400 Rose project and heard that residents love being in that area. They’re hoping to carry that
momentum to the Cedar Street area and hopefully tie it into the Bronson Hospital campus and start to move toward
Burdick Street and the Kalamazoo mall as well. The goal is roughly 70 units. The focus has been on smaller-type units that they are hearing is desired for in the market. They have had meetings with different groups downtown and
are hearing everything is at pretty full occupancy downtown. They are trying to get a new market by tapping into the
missing middle housing that is really difficult to build. There’s a lot of programs for the subsidized housing, and a
natural market for the higher end. They are looking at surface parking right now to keep the building efficient from a
cost standpoint. They have brought architects on board and are re-engaged with designing a project on this site.
Director Hess asked if there will be commercial on the bottom level.
Mr. Aardema said no commercial right now. They are looking at this project as a way to support existing businesses
that exists downtown. They see this site as transition from downtown core to the Vine neighborhood. Everything to
the south is residential, so they see this as urban-scale, urban-footprint, urban-design, but not necessarily having its
own commercial uses on the ground floor. Potentially a commercial component would be included in a future phase
if there was a market demand. He shared they are studying that closely.
Ms. McCarthy reminded the board the City submitted a grant ask to EGLE for demolition dollars at this site. EGLE
has given an update that they are pushing back their announcement date to October.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by BrewInKzoo

Some updates from the brownfield meeting minutes from September, published at the 10/17 meeting, regarding 116 W. Cedar:

Thank you for finding & sharing that! I wonder if the developers still intend to keep & integrate the old police station into the new development. It seems increasingly unlikely to me, especially with the news that the development is going to be 100% residential-focused up-front. Unless they can somehow build around it for phase 1. For reference, here is a GIS map that I marked up with who currently owns what. I could see a way that phase one could extend N-S along S Rose, and still preserve the old station for possible future use -



Just a guess, but I could see this being phase 1 residential, while saving the station for future planning / use -


Source: gis.kalamazoocity.org (with my markups added)

[GR John]

Originally Posted by deja vu

Kalamazoo -

Parking deck & pedestrian bridge progress at WMU (photos taken by me on taken Saturday) -

OMG, this was designed by my daughter!!!! I'm sure most on this forum will think that the design is lacking, but I'm a proud dad nonetheless. Not bad for being 3 years removed from college.
And one thing I learned from her, the architect is constrained by what the customer wants. You can have the most innovative designs, but if the customer has their mind made up, you have to go with their design requirments.