Phase II of a Northside Kalamazoo housing project gets $2 million investment

A Way Home — Housing Solutions: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s series on solutions to homelessness and ways to increase low-income and affordable housing. It is made possible by a coalition of funders, including Kalamazoo County, the ENNA Foundation, and Kalamazoo County Land Bank.

KALAMAZOO, MI —  The second phase of a new housing development in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood is getting support with a $2 million investment from Kalamazoo County.

Members of the County Board of Commissioners approved last week the allocation of $2 million from the county’s Housing Millage — to be provided in 2027 — to help fund Phase II of Zone 32, a 38-unit apartment complex on North Pitcher Street, between Myrtle and Frank streets. The $10 million complex will include studio apartments as well as one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.

“We’re moving at an elite clip,” says Jamauri Bogan, chief executive officer of project owner Bogan Developments LLC. “We have some incentives to obtain here locally. But we’re in a really good place.”

The first phase of Zone 32 opened in December of 2023 and includes a two-story, 7,800-square-foot residential structure at 815 N. Pitcher St. (across from the location of Phase II). It has 12 apartment units, including eight studio apartments and four two-bedroom units. It also includes a 2,500-square-foot commercial structure that has become home to the Early Learning Center of the YWCA of Greater Kalamazoo. Built at a total cost of about $4.7 million, Phase I has repurposed part of a 1.4-acre former Brownfield space.

“Phase I is a 100 percent workforce housing project,” Bogan says. “We worked with the Kalamazoo County Housing Millage, the City of Kalamazoo, and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. But also, the Michigan State Housing Authority came up with a Missing Middle Program. So all of our tenants make between 60 and 120 percent of the Area Median Income.”

Area Median Income is a metric used to calculate the middle point of annual earnings in a county. Half of all households earn more than the benchmark AMI, and half earn less. 

Phase I is considered “workforce housing,” meaning it should be affordable to middle-income working people in the area, with studio apartments leasing for as low as $875 per month and two-bedroom/two-bathroom units leasing for as much as $1,500 per month.

Phase II will reclaim about 0.6 acres of undeveloped land on the east side of Pitcher Street (across from Phase I). It will include 10 studio apartments, 10 two-bedroom apartments, and 18 one-bedroom units.  Of those, 10 units will be available for individuals or families who earn 60 percent of AMI. Leasing estimates have not yet been set.

Studio apartments will be about 500 square feet. Each of the one-bedroom units will be about 650 square feet. And each of the two-bedroom/two-bathroom units will be about 950 square feet.

“We are building a building that will serve as wide a band of incomes as is possible,” Bogan says. He says 28 of the new units will be workforce housing. The balance will be geared for low- to moderate-income tenants. Funding for the Phase II project includes a $1.5 million grant from MSHDA to build more workforce housing.

Zone 32 refers to the number Bogan wore as a running back for the Western Michigan University Broncos football team. He was No. 32 before graduating from the university’s Haworth College of Business in 2019.  

According to information provided by the county, the projects are part of a three-year plan to revitalize the area. Saying that he expects construction to begin late this summer, Bogan thanked the county for its support as well as Kalamazoo County Housing Director Mark Balkema and Deputy Housing Director Willa DiTaranto. He says, “None of this happens without people who are willing to invest in communities and the people who call them home.”