Commission adopts Porter Street NEZ as part of transformational Brownfield package; public hearing on full plan set for Oct. 20

The Kalamazoo City Commission on Oct. 6 adopted a resolution establishing a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) covering the block anchored by 619 Porter Street and advanced a three-site transformational Brownfield plan that the city will ask the State of Michigan to review. The NEZ vote clears a local step needed for the larger Brownfield plan, which the city plans to take up for action at its Oct. 20 meeting along with public hearings on related tax-exemption certificates.

City staff and the project team described the package as three linked redevelopment sites: the former Spearflex building on East Kalamazoo Avenue to be converted to 57 residential units; 619 Porter Street, a new-construction mixed-use workforce rental project with 58 apartments; and the Michigan Avenue Courthouse (the MAC), proposed for historic renovation into a 127-room boutique hotel. Jamie McCarthy, the city’s Development Manager, told commissioners the three projects together are seeking roughly $54 million in public incentives and financing supports, with about 20% of that coming from local property tax increment and the remainder from state-level taxes the transformational program can capture.

Logan Mulholland, the Brownfield consultant, and the developer team detailed the projected benefits: about 552 construction jobs across the three sites, an estimated 93 permanent retail and hotel jobs, and roughly 115 new residential units that staff expect will accommodate about 172 residents. Mulholland said the transformational Brownfield pathway is a…