Plans to build a 12-story apartment project that would provide income-restricted and market rate housing in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids are moving forward after the Michigan Economic Development Corp. approved tax breaks worth $6.2 million for the $42 million project.
The project, at 20 E. Fulton Street, would be built on a parking lot that was occupied by The Grand Rapids Press until the mid-1960s. The tax breaks will allow developer Brookstone Capital to recover its costs of cleaning up the site by capturing up to $6.2 million in local and school property tax revenues.
When completed, the project is expected to create between 96 and 108 one- and two-bedroom apartments with half of them set aside for low-to-medium income tenants. The project also would include ground floor retail space and a three- to five-story parking ramp with between 110 to 130 parking spaces.
Officials with Brookstone Capital were not available for comment after the funding approval was announced by the MEDC on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
The project had been proposed last year and shelved after it failed to win state approval to sell tax credits for the project. It was revived this fall after the Michigan State Housing Commission approved the developer’s request to sell tax credits.
City Economic Development Director Kara Wood said construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2015, with completion near the end of 2016.
Developer Karl Chew said last year he chose the site because of its proximity to The Rapids’ new Silver Line bus rapid transit route.
The high-rise is the largest project yet for Brookstone Capital, a Midland-based company that has eight housing projects either completed or underway in the city’s downtown, Heartside Neighborhood and Southeast Side.
Source: Mlive.com
