Retail, residential looking strong in downtown Kalamazoo; vacant office space growing

An artist's rendering of the proposed Kalamazoo Metropolitan Center in the 100 block of East Michigan Avenue. The mixed use development could bring new housing to downtown Kalamazoo this year.

from the Kalamazoo Gazette February 21, 2011

The retail and residential sectors of downtown Kalamazoo showed progress, while the office sector continued to lose tenants, according to figures released today by Downtown Kalamazoo Inc.

Residential vacancy last year was 1.4 percent, which shows strong demand for apartments and condos downtown, said Ken Nacci, president of DKI. Nacci delivered his annual State of the Downtown Address today.

Developers are expected this year to take advantage of that demand with the opening of 50 new residential units in the downtown area, Nacci said.

Meanwhile, downtown Kalamazoo added 11 new retail businesses in 2010 and lost four.

And, "for the first time in a long time," Nacci said, every store front on the South Kalamazoo Mall either has a tenant or has a commitment from a developer to bring a new tenant in.

That includes the former Kalamazoo Advantage Academy building that was purchased by developer Tom Huff, and the building that once housed Athena Book Shop and the Soup Kettle, which is owned by Greenleaf Cos.

While residential and retail are doing well, the office vacancy rate increased in 2010 to 15.4 percent, DKI's study showed.

The downtown district lost 16 office tenants last year while gaining five.

Nacci saved the Arcadia Commons West project for the end of his presentation and only said that it was in the "planning" stage.

Arcadia Commons West is a large development project slated for the west end of downtown and anchored by a sports and entertainment arena.