By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland City Council Monday approved adding a mixed-use development now under construction at the northeast corner of Main Avenue and State Street to the city’s brownfield plan.
The council voted 6-0 to amend the brownfield plan to include the three-story building being built at 17 E. Main Ave., making it eligible for the project developer, Midwest Construction, to seek tax incentives to defray some of its development costs.
Midwest Construction is investing $7 million into the 27,461-square-foot building, which will consist of office and commercial space on the main floor and 22 one-bedroom apartments on the upper two floors, City Manager Tim Klunder said.
The city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority in January voted to recommend the council add the project to the brownfield plan. The 17 E. Main site qualifies as an eligible property under the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act because the project involves the construction of new affordable housing.
The state law was changed in 2023 to allow for housing developments to be included as brownfield projects. The law had previously had limited such projects to sites in need of environmental cleanup.
The 17 E. Main project seeks to provide housing to individuals and families earning between 80 and 120 percent of Ottawa County’s area median income (AMI). Six of the apartments will have their rent capped at Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) rates for renters whose incomes are at 80 percent of the county AMI for the life of the plan, estimated at 30 years, said Kirk Perschbacher, a brownfield consultant with Fishbeck who has worked with Midwest on the project.
“That AMI rent is set by MSHDA every year,” Perschbacher said. “If MSHDA raises that, (the developer) can raise it, but they have to stay under that 80 percent threshold.”
Right now, the 80 percent rent is about $1,500 a month, including utilities. The developer or its management company must submit paperwork annually to the brownfield authority to verify that rent for those six units is still within 80 percent of AMI. Renters of those units must also certify their income is within that 80 percent threshold, Perschbacher said.
Eighty percent of Ottawa County’s AMI in 2024 was $57,600 for one person and $65,840 for two people, Klunder said.
Midwest Construction is seeking approval of tax-increment financing for the 17 E. Main project, which means any new tax revenues generated by growth in property values for the site could be reimbursed back to the developer to help cover such expenses as a baseline environmental assessment, demolition and site preparation. The developer is seeking to be reimbursed $671,900 over a period of 14 years for those expenses, Klunder said.
In addition, the city may collect about $2 million more in new tax revenues over an additional 16 years after the developer is fully reimbursed that would go toward the purchase of boilers to be installed in the building to expand the city’s snowmelt system. Tax increment financing can be used for public infrastructure projects like snowmelt expansion, Klunder said.
Perschbacher says similar housing projects in Hudsonville, Ferrysburg and Spring Lake have gone through the brownfield redevelopment process to make them affordable.
“You’re seeing more projects that would have had to wait five years to get the financing to work are going to be able to start now. You’re going to have a lot more units online quicker,” he said.
The 17 E. Main project is expected to be completed by the end of June, Midwest Construction vice president and partner Jason Hall said.
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland City Council Monday approved adding a mixed-use development now under construction at the northeast corner of Main Avenue and State Street to the city’s brownfield plan.
The council voted 6-0 to amend the brownfield plan to include the three-story building being built at 17 E. Main Ave., making it eligible for the project developer, Midwest Construction, to seek tax incentives to defray some of its development costs.
Midwest Construction is investing $7 million into the 27,461-square-foot building, which will consist of office and commercial space on the main floor and 22 one-bedroom apartments on the upper two floors, City Manager Tim Klunder said.
The city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority in January voted to recommend the council add the project to the brownfield plan. The 17 E. Main site qualifies as an eligible property under the state’s Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act because the project involves the construction of new affordable housing.
The state law was changed in 2023 to allow for housing developments to be included as brownfield projects. The law had previously had limited such projects to sites in need of environmental cleanup.
The 17 E. Main project seeks to provide housing to individuals and families earning between 80 and 120 percent of Ottawa County’s area median income (AMI). Six of the apartments will have their rent capped at Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) rates for renters whose incomes are at 80 percent of the county AMI for the life of the plan, estimated at 30 years, said Kirk Perschbacher, a brownfield consultant with Fishbeck who has worked with Midwest on the project.
“That AMI rent is set by MSHDA every year,” Perschbacher said. “If MSHDA raises that, (the developer) can raise it, but they have to stay under that 80 percent threshold.”
Right now, the 80 percent rent is about $1,500 a month, including utilities. The developer or its management company must submit paperwork annually to the brownfield authority to verify that rent for those six units is still within 80 percent of AMI. Renters of those units must also certify their income is within that 80 percent threshold, Perschbacher said.
Eighty percent of Ottawa County’s AMI in 2024 was $57,600 for one person and $65,840 for two people, Klunder said.
Midwest Construction is seeking approval of tax-increment financing for the 17 E. Main project, which means any new tax revenues generated by growth in property values for the site could be reimbursed back to the developer to help cover such expenses as a baseline environmental assessment, demolition and site preparation. The developer is seeking to be reimbursed $671,900 over a period of 14 years for those expenses, Klunder said.
In addition, the city may collect about $2 million more in new tax revenues over an additional 16 years after the developer is fully reimbursed that would go toward the purchase of boilers to be installed in the building to expand the city’s snowmelt system. Tax increment financing can be used for public infrastructure projects like snowmelt expansion, Klunder said.
Perschbacher says similar housing projects in Hudsonville, Ferrysburg and Spring Lake have gone through the brownfield redevelopment process to make them affordable.
“You’re seeing more projects that would have had to wait five years to get the financing to work are going to be able to start now. You’re going to have a lot more units online quicker,” he said.
The 17 E. Main project is expected to be completed by the end of June, Midwest Construction vice president and partner Jason Hall said.
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