GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- LINC Community Revitalization Inc. announced Monday plans to develop a $15 million housing and commercial project that will be known as Eastern Village on the city's Southeast side.
The project, which will encompass nearly an entire city block in the Baxter Neighborhood, will have frontage on Eastern Avenue, Charles Street, and Thomas Street.
Construction is anticipated to begin in spring of 2016 on more than 71 units of housing, including apartments and town homes, as well as 12,000 square feet of commercial space on the lower level of the development.
The project is being developed in partnership with Orion Construction.
The site plan includes two four-story apartment buildings with lower level retail space on Eastern Aveue, 10 town homes planned for Charles Street, and five more town homes that will sit on Thomas Street.
The low-income housing development is in direct response to recent investment made in the north end of the area on Wealthy Street.
Renewed interest and investment has subsequently driven up rent rates, according to Jeremy DeRoo, LINC co-director.
“We just want to make sure that we preserve affordable housing for the community that’s living there and people can stay in the neighborhood," DeRoo said. "Even if the continued investment moves south, there’s still a place for everybody."
“We think the people living in the neighborhood deserve the benefit to remain as the neighborhood gets better, so that’s what this project will allow to happen.”
Duke Love has owned his business, Brother Love's Towing, 621 Eastern Avenue, for more than 35 years. His business and the nearly two acres of land surrounding it make up the majority of the area where the new housing will be built.
Love, 81, said he was approached roughly six months ago about selling it. And, he said, the price and timing were right.
“I can’t take it with me when I leave," he said, adding this might finally provide him the chance to retire.
Love said he bought up the blighted properties surrounding his business over the course of decades. “I bought it one lot at a time," he said. "There were houses on it." He knocked down the homes that once stood there to clear the land.
While it will be nearly twice as large, the Eastern Village project is similar in concept to the recently completed Southtown LINC project that opened on Madison and Hall in October 2014. That development has 60 units with roughly 6,000 square feet of lower level retail space.
DeRoo said LINC received more than 250 applications for the 60 units and currently the retail space is about 75 percent full.
“There’s a huge market," he said. "There’s just not enough affordable housing in Grand Rapids right now.”
While nothing has been finalized, DeRoo said he expects rent for the apartment units in Eastern Village to run around $500 to $600 per month.
The city planning commission still has to approve a special land use request. LINC will also be applying for Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the project through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority this fall, according to DeRoo.
