DOWNTOWN KALAMAZOO (WKZO) — Another effort is being mounted to do something with the west side of Downtown Kalamazoo
A group calling itself the Arcadia Commons West Task Force held interviews Thursday with development firms from Kalamazoo and Georgia, to hear their ideas for the redevelopment of the west side of Downtown Kalamazoo.
The public was invited and some asked questions and offered ideas.
There are six to eight acres of prime real estate at the prestigious intersection of Kalamazoo and Westnedge in Downtown Kalamazoo that has been largely undeveloped for decades.
We have very short presentations on both of the concepts in the picture gallery attached to this story.
Both concepts still need to be fleshed out to meet the needs and desires of market studies, local entrepreneurs and financing. Does the community need another magnet? If its associated with the University or a hospital, does it become another peice of untaxable property in a city that already has alot of untaxible property. What will work?. What does Kalamazoo need? What can it afford?
It was mostly single family residential with commercial buildings on Michigan and Kalamazoo Avenue until the Tornado of 1980 cleared out alot of the residential, and the defection of the Gilmore Car Dealership to Portage did the rest.
It was deeded to WMU and has largely sat undeveloped, thanks to weak economies, the great recession, failed plans for sports arenas and a proviso in the grant that required that both WMU and Downtown officials agree on development that will help the entire community.
It was also part of the Arcadia Creek Development, which resulted in the construction of the new Cancer Center, Museum and the KVCC campus to the East, but never developed to the west.
That original Arcadia Creek plan envisioned Teepee shaped condos built on the banks of a reopened creek on the Arcadia Commons West acreage. The only part that happened was reopening the creek which used to run through a big pipe under d the downtown.
The Task Force has heard from the developers. They will meet in a few weeks and pick one of the developers in a month or two, if they think can move the project forward, helping them find funding, investors, tenants, partners or buyers, depending on what is proposed.
The right development could help the City of Kalamazoo with some of it’s funding issues if it generates property taxes, and that may also be a consideration for the Task Force.
Right now its just a big open space with an ornately decorated creek running through it and alot of broken concrete and overgrowth, where little else happens.
