Townhouses with room for business proposed for downtown

Wednesday, December 6, 2006
By Dave Alexander
CHRONICLE BUSINESS EDITOR

Busy professionals looking for a new lifestyle in downtown Muskegon will get a chance to "live and work" at the same address at the planned Heritage Square Town Homes.

Downtown developer Gary Post and his Port City Construction and Development Services LLC are proposing a 16-unit, row-house condominium project for the former Muskegon Mall site.

The "live and work" condos will be located on the northside of Clay Avenue between First and Second streets, creating an urban-looking set of two- and three-story living units. The "live and work" concept is a first for the Muskegon area, Post said.

With four styles of units, Heritage Square units will range from $250,000 to $350,000. Post said he is looking to attract attorneys, insurance agents, accountants or real estate agents who would want condominium living that would be combined with a small office on the ground level.

Post said Heritage Square units could also provide "live and work" space for small retailers. Zoning on the "city center" former mall site is planned unit development, allowing for a creative mix residential and commercial uses, city officials said.

Post believes there is a market for the condos, but he plans to be cautious with construction.

"These units will be market driven," Post said of the $5 million development. "We will build a model or two but we will not be putting up units without buyers."

Heritage Square is another of the downtown projects announced, under construction or opened this year.

There are two other buildings proposed for the west end of the "city center" site and Post and partner Russ Strong are working on redevelopment of the existing three buildings in the "Russell Block" on Western Avenue between Third and Second streets. More development is under way on the city's Terrace Street block and the waterfront Edison Landing.

Muskegon city officials are thrilled with the downtown progress this year.

"City staff has met with (Gary Post) and we are impressed by his building plans," said Cathy Brubaker-Clarke, the city's economic development and planning director. "The concept of live-work space is great for downtown and fits perfectly with our "cool city" efforts in creating an environment downtown where people can live, work and play."

The city of Muskegon has completed a traffic circle at Third and Western and opened newly reconstructed Western Avenue from Third to Terrace. Post said city plans for 2007 to extend First and Second streets between Clay Avenue and Morris Street are critical to development of Heritage Square.

Post said his Heritage Square Development LLC has control of the property along Clay Avenue that is across the street from the 297 Clay condominiums and shares an alley with the former National City Bank building, which awaits redevelopment. The "city center" lots are being sold by the Downtown Muskegon Development Corp., a consortium of non-profits led by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

Neither Post nor Downtown Muskegon Development officials would disclose the purchase price for the land.

Post -- the retired president of Muskegon Construction Co. -- has put together a development team for Heritage Square. The architects will be from the Sidock Group, which is planning a nearby retail-office building on "city center." Post will be his own general contractor with construction expected to begin in 2007.

The interiors will be by Details & Design by Mary Kaye and marketing materials by FineLine Creative, both of Muskegon. Sales and marketing of the Heritage Square units will be done by real estate agent Eileen McCormick, who has just established her own firm -- Real Estate West Michigan.

McCormick is a real estate broker who has previously sold through Greenridge

Realty Inc.'s Muskegon office. McCormick, a residential real estate agent, now works out of her Lakeshore Drive home in Muskegon but she said she hopes to "live and work" at Heritage Square in the future.

"I have lived in bigger cities and love the excitement of living downtown," said McCormick who had a 25-year business management career in the Washington, D.C., area before moving to Muskegon six years ago.

Post said that the low-tax Renaissance Zone advantages of a "city center" site will save owners both in personal and business taxes. The Renaissance Zone will continue through 2014.

Neither Post nor McCormick are particularly worried about a slow real estate market, especially in the Heritage Square price range. They said the unique "live and work" layout and the location will sell itself.

The Clay Avenue block will be anchored on each end by a two-story, residential only unit of 1,650 square feet with two bedrooms and two and a half baths. The same unit style is planned for the other two corners of the property in a stand alone design.

The largest unit is a three-story "live and work" design with a first floor commercial space with two living levels above for a total of 2,300 square feet. The other two unit styles are two stories can be set up for either offices or living space on the first floor and two bedrooms and two and a half baths on the second floor.

The units will feature rounded stair cases, porches and back decks. Each unit will have a covered garage in the back and a shared common courtyard facing Western Avenue.

© 2006 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission