The Grand Traverse County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) will discuss brownfield funding for several local projects at its 9am meeting at the Governmental Center today (Thursday), including workforce housing in East Bay Township, Civic Center improvements, Warehouse District cleanup efforts, and two projects at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

The board’s busy agenda includes potential approval of a brownfield plan for a 240-unit workforce apartment complex called Central Park on Three Mile Road in East Bay Township. Township trustees earlier this month signed off on the approximately $20 million brownfield plan, which would reimburse development group Krimson for eligible expenses – such as infrastructure, safety improvements, and the construction of below-market rate apartments – over a 30-year period.

The project, which represents an estimated $49 million investment, calls for building 10 three-story buildings with 24 units each. Apartments would range from 647 square feet (one-bedroom) to 1,389 square feet (three-bedroom). Proposed amenities include a clubhouse, carport parking, two dog parks, a playground, bus stop, and a system of walking paths and outdoor picnic areas. The bulk of the units – 190, or 79 percent – will be reserved for residents earning up to 100 percent of the area median income (AMI), with rent starting at an estimated $1,285 for a one-bedroom apartment. Following township and BRA approval, the plan would next go to county commissioners in September.

BRA board members will also consider approving a $375,000 grant from the local brownfield revolving fund to help support improvements at the Civic Center. The brownfield funding would go toward fulfilling a $992,085 local match requirement for a state grant of the same amount announced earlier this year through the Revitalization and Placemaking (RAP) program. The county partnered with Norte, which resides at the Civic Center, to apply for the state grant.

The combined state and local funding will support three main projects at the Civic Center. The first is the renovation and expansion of the Civic Center’s south building to include accessible restroom facilities and dedicated storage space. The second is the construction of a 12,000-square-foot Norte pump track – a circular loop of rollers and berms that allows cyclists to ride continuously without pedaling – on the north end of the park. Remaining funds will pay for signage and landscaping improvements at the park.

Improvements to public infrastructure, “overall enhancement to the community,” and the viability of a project without brownfield assistance are all among the evaluation criteria for local brownfield revolving fund grants. The county said it’s “pursuing additional sources to meet the local match requirement,” but that the BRA’s contribution – representing more than a third of the needed amount – “is essential to ensuring we are able to meet our local match funding requirement.”

The BRA has itself been announced as the recipient of a sizable state grant for Traverse City work. Today’s board packet includes notification from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) that the BRA has been approved for $1 million in funding for environmental cleanup in the Warehouse District as part of J.S. Capitol Group’s redevelopment project. In addition to a new Marriott Tribute hotel called The Syndicate under construction next to Hotel Indigo, J.S. Capitol Group is building an adjacent condo complex called TC Continental and demolishing the former Antiquities Warehouse building across Garland Street to construct a new building with ground-floor retail and upper-floor parking. The brownfield grant will go toward cleanup costs for the two non-hotel parcels.

“Nearly 100 years of commercial business and a history of leaking underground storage tanks is believed to be the source of soil and groundwater contamination at 207 Grandview Parkway (TC Continental), which poses a vapor intrusion and direct contact risk to the future buildings,” brownfield documents state. “Urban fill is believed to be the source of contamination at 229 Garland Street (Antiquities Warehouse). Grant funding will be used to demolish the existing structure at 229 Garland Street, address contaminated soil encountered during construction at both properties, and install a vapor mitigation system at 207 Grandview Parkway if additional assessment of the property confirms a vapor intrusion risk.”

Finally, BRA board members today will vote to receive-and-file documents related to two projects at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons (such action means board members officially acknowledge the items as part of their consent calendar but typically have no discussion since the items are considered non-controversial). The first set of documents are contracts related to a joint City of Traverse City and Garfield Township project to address water pressure issues at the Commons, with infrastructure improvements to be covered by brownfield funds.

Other documents detail a plan for covering brownfield-eligible expenses to clean up Building 65, a vacant and heavily vandalized building on Yellow Drive beyond Left Foot Charley. Once used for vehicle storage and maintenance for the former TC State Hospital, the blighted structure is now being eyed for new residential development. The brownfield plan estimates a few hundred thousand dollars in required cleanup work, including abatement, removal of vegetation and contaminated soil, removal of obsolete parts of the structure, and debris disposal, among other tasks.

Raymond Minervini II of The Minervini Group says planning is still in the early stages for the future redevelopment of the site, noting that – under the historical status of the property – the building will be evaluated for any potential components that can be preserved as its new iteration moves forward.