Signature Associates

State approves financing for $13.2M, 52-unit mixed-use project in Kalamazoo

State officials have approved a loan and brownfield incentives for a $13.2 million, five-story mixed-use development planned at a former industrial site north of downtown Kalamazoo.

The project development team of 619 LLC was formed by Jeff Nicholson, Craig Bush and David Michal Scott to construct a five-story structure on 1.4 acres at 619 Porter St.

Nicholson has helped lead other local development efforts as the founder of real estate redevelopment company PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc. Bush is a private equity investor, and Scott is currently president and CEO of KZ Asset Management LLC, which has 3 million square feet of commercial space in Kalamazoo.

Plans at 619 Porter include a mixed-use building with 52 residential units and 11,049 square feet of commercial space. Five units in the development are planned to be rented at affordable rates for households making 60 percent of the area median income, or about $862 a month for one-bedroom units. The rest of the rent prices in the project will range from $1,290 a month for one-bedroom units, up to about $1,875 a month for two-bedroom units.

“The project is a very high priority for the City of Kalamazoo, as it redevelops a former industrial site with brownfield conditions and collapsing buildings into a vibrant mixed-use development that will meet workforce housing needs and add new commercial space on the north-side of downtown,” according to a Michigan Economic Development Corp. memo on the project.

Demolition is set to begin in a couple of weeks on the site, and construction is expected to be completed in spring 2023, according to the MEDC.

The MSF Board approved the developer’s request to participate in a $2.2 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program performance-based loan with First National Bank of Michigan. The loan award will “help offset significant costs related to the redevelopment of a brownfield site as well as support the inclusion of workforce housing,” according to the MEDC. The developers will contribute more than $1.8 million in equity, or 14 percent, to the project.

The MSF board also approved a Brownfield Act 381 Work Plan that will reimburse $537,226 for eligible brownfield activities at the development. The project is expected to result in a total capital investment of more than $13.2 million.

“One of the things we’re learning increasingly is that in addition to having tremendous growth for our companies and businesses, we have to have places where people can plan and develop the next great company,” MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. said today. “We’ve seen that young people particularly want vibrant downtown communities. I think this allows us to do that.”

Posted By: MiBiz on October 26, 2021.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

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