Copyright M Live Michigan
KALAMAZOO, MI — Imagine heading east toward downtown Kalamazoo on a tree-lined street bustling with shoppers, tourists and students heading to a concert or dinner. That’s the future Kalamazoo officials want to build along Stadium Drive and West Michigan Avenue. This “tangle” of streets near the intersection of Stadium Drive, West Main Street, West Michigan Avenue and Michikal Street is currently known as the “spaghetti bowl.” City commissioners voted to adopt the West Gateway Plan during their Monday, Oct. 20, meeting. The plan is a guiding document, said Deputy City Manager Rebekah Kik, outlining the kind of development the city wants to see along Stadium Drive and Michigan Avenue as they lead into downtown. The goal is to bring the pedestrian-friendly feel of Rose Street or the Kalamazoo Mall to the west, Kik said, at a smaller scale that makes sense for the neighborhood. Rather than parking lots lining the streets, the plan envisions two- and three-story buildings along Michigan Avenue. Street-level units might host businesses, while apartments could fill the upper floors. Plans stretch from the area of Stadium Drive and Oakland Drive to Michikal Street’s intersection with Kalamazoo Avenue and surrounding streets. Notre Dame Architecture students identified developable properties along the route, highlighted in red on the map below. “It’s their private property, they can do what they want with it, of course,” Kik said. But city staff are meeting with property owners to present the plan and gauge interest. “We have a vision,” Kik said. “We’ve done engagement. We know what we want for this area and now we want to look for developers who want to develop our vision as opposed to the other way around.” The busy road, openness of parking lots and vacant buildings, plus the the lack of pedestrian crosswalks and signals make this area feel “hostile,” Kik said. It’ll feel “incredibly different” come the two-way conversion of Michigan Avenue in 2029 and the addition of the Kalamazoo Event Center in 2027, Kik said. She sees the corner of Michikal Street, West Main and West Michigan Avenue as a gateway welcoming drivers to the downtown area. A three-story commercial space, located where the T-shirt shop at 728 W. Michigan Ave. currently stands, would be a place where residents could walk to a pharmacy or convenience store, as well as local shopping and dining. On Stadium Drive, plans call for Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College dormitories to fill the space between Amtrak rail lines and a reconstructed Stadium Drive. The proposed design simplifies driving routes through the area and creates safe, connected walking and cycling paths, per city documents. “The Kalamazoo West Gateway ... is solving another 40-year planning problem which is connecting intentionally to WMU and K College to the west side of town,” Kik said. Both universities included the gateway plan in their own planning documents this year, she said. It’s part of an effort to bring more college students into the downtown area. RELATED: New free shuttle will connect WMU students to downtown Kalamazoo The city plans to complete a $48 million flooding mitigation project along Stadium Drive and the spaghetti bowl in 2028. Plans include street reconstruction and uncovering Arcadia Creek. Near the St. Augustine Cathedral, 542 W. Michigan Ave., city documents show Michigan Avenue transformed with a grassy boulevard, street parking and shops lining the roadway. Development in this area would be broken up by alleyways, Kik said. Similar to Farmers or Bates alleys downtown, these would be areas prime for activation with unique lighting, artwork and special events. Church officials worked with the city to design around its existing cathedral and school, per city documents. Proposed plans show a row of buildings separating the church’s parking lot from the road. With the promise of increased event center traffic and a simplified, updated route around downtown on the way, the area west of downtown is prime for development. Still, Kik suspects business owners and developers will want to wait for updated utilities and roadwork to be complete in 2029 before they invest in new buildings. Ruggers Up and Under and a Comfort Inn, both located near the busy West Michigan Avenue intersection, have closed in the last year. KAGW LLC bought Ruggers, 711 W. Michigan Ave., for $1.85 million in March, per public records. It paid another $690,000 for three other properties on the same day, including the former Bunca Car Wash at 653 W. Michigan Ave. Zoning in the area already allows for the kind of development the city want to see, Kik said. Officials will need to find financial incentives to attract developers. There’s no set timeline for development in the area, Kik said. It’ll be set by stakeholders.
