From field to four stories, Broadway Lofts coming soon

By summer 2021, 410 W. Broadway Street, located between Mountain Town Station and Mt. Pleasant City Hall, will be quite a bit taller.

The culmination of 15 years of effort to redevelop the property, the 50,000 square-foot building will increase options for those interested in living downtown.

The first floor of the four-story, L-shaped building will be commercial space, and the remaining three floors will be residential units.

“The idea has always been to have something that would help to incentivize additional development in downtown,” says William Mrdeza, Community Services and Economic Development Director for the City of Mt. Pleasant. “When you have more folks living in and around downtown, it creates more vibrancy in a downtown area.”

Construction on Broadway Lofts began in early April once restrictions due to the Governor's executive order lifted.
GreenTree Cooperative Grocery will be the first commercial tenant, moving into a roughly 10,000 square-foot space once construction is completed. They plan to expand their current inventory and services, and introduce outdoor dining.

Development of the property has been a topic of conversation amongst community leaders as early as 2005.

Since Mrdeza began working for the City of Mt. Pleasant in 2012, he says that during that time they have entertained between six to eight proposals that were consistent with the vision and expectations that the city had for the property.

“We required a development that was at least two stories and incorporated some type of mixed-use in the design,” says Mrdeza. “And it proved challenging. We had a number of proposals that for various reasons didn't materialize.”

With the stairwell completed, workers begin construction on the elevator shaft.
The property was purchased last year by Michigan Community Capital, a nonprofit organization.

“Much like some of the other proposals, they came in with a thought that they could do it for X amount of money and then as we got more into the site and learned more, it wasn't as straightforward as we had thought,” says Mrdeza.

Teams surveying the property discovered some residual environmental issues that needed to be resolved before construction could begin.

“They found that the soil contained peat, which doesn't have a really good load-bearing capacity and various pockets of small concentrations of heavy metals,” says Mrdeza. “There were a number of rail spurs on the property, so it wasn't surprising that they found some of the residual contaminants in the same areas where ballasts from the railroad tracks or a rail spur was.”

The L-shaped, four-story building will face Broadway Street and along Oak Street in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
With the COVID-19 pandemic delaying the start of construction, workers weren’t able to begin working on the project until early April.

Mrdeza says he has been told the anticipated timeline for completing the project is around summer or fall of 2021.

Currently there are 72 loft apartments downtown. Once the project is completed, 48 more with apartments ranging from 400 square-foot studio apartments to 750 square-foot two bedroom units will be available for those looking to live downtown.

“It's close proximity to our park system, which is interconnected via a series of trails, so folks can enjoy the parks, walk, bike, or rollerblade, and the river is there as well,” says Mrdeza.

Downtown Mt. Pleasant currently has 72 loft apartments. Broadway Lofts will add 48 more ranging from studio apartments to two bedroom units.
Mt. Pleasant’s Walk Score is 87, which means that most errands can be completed on foot. The score is calculated out of a 100 point value and based on what is in the area, such as grocery, parks, schools, and entertainment options, and if they may be reached on foot.

“The area is highly walkable,” says Mrdeza. “Residents don't have to get in their car every time for instance, if they need to get groceries. We're going to have a grocery store right here; or, if they need to go to a drugstore to get prescriptions, they can just walk downtown to Downtown Drugs and take advantage of that.”

To learn more about the project, visit mt-pleasant.org/docs/dept/CommServices/410.W.Broadway.Street.Project.Information.Sheet.pdf.

Those interested in renting one of the units can visit https://michigancommunitycapital.org/broadway-lofts.