Building homes, building a neighborhood and building the work skills of
former state prison inmates are all part of a program now under way in one
of Kalamazoo's largest neighborhoods.
Over the next two to three
years the Edison neighborhood will grow by 24 homes in a program that
brings together people who need work and local builders.
The
development, on seven acres in downtown Kalamazoo west of Portage
Street across the street from Bank Street Market, is called
Marketplace. When completed it will be Kalamazoo's largest residential
development in years.
Officials say their goal is that the
Marketplace development stabilize the area's residential property
values and promote pride among neighbors on surrounding blocks. The
project might also jumpstart redevelopment of the nearby Portage Street
commercial corridor.
The homes are being built with $4 million of a $15 million federal stimulus award to the city and the
Kalamazoo County Land Bank.
An additional $1 million is expected to be generated when the first 18
homes are sold and some of the federal resources funding construction
are repaid. The mortgage proceeds will be used to fund the remaining
homes, expected to go up over the next three years.
Work is
beginning immediately on four of the houses, so they will go up in time
to be included in the Kalamazoo Parade of Homes in June.
The houses are three-bedroom, 2.5-bath, single-family homes,
featuring oversized two-car attached garages, front porches, rear
decks. The two-story Craftsman-style construction on 70-foot by 100
foot deep lots, will have no basement. They will be built to five-star
energy efficiency standards.
To make the homes affordable,
stimulus money will subsidize sales prices. The homes are expected to
be built for about $200,000 per home, but sell for about half that.
Families earning up to 120 percent of area median income -- up to
$73,200 -- could be eligible to buy the homes.
Some of the
area's top, custom home builders have agreed to construct the first
homes. Builders must agree to participate in Project HOPE, the local
construction trades job training initiative for selected former
offenders.
Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Mary Balkema, Kalamazoo County
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