Washington Square in Edison is now fully occupied with resident-owned and diverse businesses after seven years of Land Bank and Edison Neighborhood Association work to activate and revitalize the commercial node. In addition to Washington Square's already established businesses, which include Tremolo Instruments, Community Promise Credit Union and Kzoo Nutrition, the Square now welcomes several [...]
The Kalamazoo Eastside Neighborhood Association and the Kalamazoo County Land Bank are excited to announce a Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) grant for Eastside Sunrise Plaza, a public pocket plaza on East Main that will feature local artists, resident stories through haikus, and highlight the neighborhood motto, “The sun always rises [...]
Ten years in the making, The Creamery, a nearly 60,000 square foot community-envisioned, mixed-use development in Edison, promises to help revitalize the neighborhood by providing affordable housing and much-needed 24 hour quality drop-in childcare. As the Kalamazoo County Land Bank celebrates a decade of reusing, repurposing and reconnecting blighted property with the community, the agency [...]
Eastside Voices, an intergenerational oral history project featuring stories shared from current and former residents, was unveiled during the December Art Hop at the Kalamazoo Eastside Neighborhood Association. Coordinated by local artists Buddy Hannah and Sid Ellis, Eastside Voices featured a video, book, storyboards, mural by Gerald king at 1616 East Main, and permanent artwork [...]
KALAMAZOO, MI -- A new economic growth authority expects to leverage $66 million in state and local taxes to boost business in downtown Kalamazoo during the next 30 years. Monday, the Kalamazoo City Commission approved a plan to reinvest tax revenue collected from increases in the value of downtown property. It outlines how funds will be [...]
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is supporting the cleanup of a blighted site primed for an ambitious redevelopment project. Monday, the DEQ announced it will loan $1.25 million and grant $100,000 to mitigate contamination of a historic Vicksburg paper mill. Paper City Development, LLC. plans invest $50 million to redevelop the long-vacant mill complex into a mixed-use [...]
On a map, Edison, the most populous of the Kalamazoo’s 22 neighborhoods, is shaped like a work boot with one loose shoelace, an apt symbol for a neighborhood that is a little hardscrabble tossed with historical and urban charm. The collar of the boot (the north border), includes Mayor’s Riverfront Park and the Kalamazoo River; [...]
Local officials are hopeful that Michigan Department of Environmental Quality funds will help clean up a blighted site primed for an ambitious redevelopment project. The county Board of Commissioners authorized its Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to apply for a $1.25 million DEQ loan and $100,000 grant to mitigate contamination of a former Vicksburg paper mill. Paper City [...]
From a classroom at Kalamazoo College grew a program that makes Kalamazoo’s neighborhoods safer, spruced up places where neighbors work together to make them that way. Building Blocks got its beginning in 1995 in a sociology course taught by Dr. Kim Cummings. He wanted to provide community organizing experience for students while also supporting [...]
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