Plaza Corp, state officials preview $100M‑plus downtown brownfield plan as Northside residents press for homeownership

Plaza Corp and state officials presented a multi‑site transformational brownfield plan to the Kalamazoo City Commission Committee of the Whole on June 2, 2025, proposing more than $100 million in private investment and state tax‑capture incentives to convert three downtown properties into housing, ground‑floor commercial space and a boutique hotel.

The plan, which project sponsors said has been invited to apply to Michigan’s Transformational Brownfield Program (TBP), would redevelop 619 Porter Street, the SpearFlex building at 261 E. Kalamazoo Avenue and the Michigan Avenue Courthouse (the MAC) at 227 W. Michigan Avenue. Tricia Kidd, representing Plaza Corp, said the three sites together represent "over 100,000,000 in investment" and would deliver new housing, activate commercial space and require brownfield remediation.

The proposal matters because TBP, created under Michigan Act 381 and administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Strategic Fund, makes additional state revenue streams available to large redevelopment projects and is allocated sparingly: project sponsors and consultants said this application is one of a limited number of TBP invitations in the state.

Project details presented at the meeting include a proposed $22 million, five‑story mixed‑use building at 619 Porter with 58 residential units and about 5,000 square feet of commercial space; a roughly $22 million conversion of the SpearFlex building to 57 apartments; and a $50 million adaptive reuse of the Michigan Avenue Courthouse into a…