The Creamery Apartments
Project Details
Location
Kalamazoo, MI
Services Utilized
LEED for Homes v4 Platinum
Project Size
59,420 SF
Project Achievements
- LEED for Homes v4 Platinum
- Net-Zero Energy Ready
The Challenge
Achieving strict sustainability targets such as LEED Platinum certification, fully electric systems, a green roof, and solar energy presented additional challenges due to higher up-front costs and the need for high-quality construction and operations to realize long-term utility savings.
The development needed to manage neighborhood engagement and expectations, balancing residents’ priorities for amenities, affordability, mixed-use space, and design with what was financially and architecturally feasible.
Project Summary
This 59,420 square foot facility is seated on the 1.33 acres that once housed the Klover Gold Creamery, bringing to the Kalamazoo Edison Neighborhood a mixed-income housing complex. The facility includes a YWCA Daycare with outdoor play area, leasable tenant/retail space and residential apartments accommodated by outdoor patios, a roof top terrace, exercise room, group gathering room and common yard areas. Half of the roof top area has photovoltaic panels to help supply electricity to the facility. Site developments embrace cutting edge, low impact design methods including green roof areas and rainwater re-use systems for irrigation of landscape feature areas.
Innovations
The Creamery achieved LEED Platinum certification, incorporating high-efficiency building systems such as all-electric heat pumps, a green roof, rainwater reuse, and a solar photovoltaic array to reduce environmental impact and resident utility costs.
It combined affordable and workforce housing in one development, offering units for extremely low-income, low-income, and moderate-income households to address the “missing middle” housing gap.
- The YWCA Edison Children’s Center is the first comprehensive learning center of its kind in Michigan with infant and toddler programming, 2nd and 3rd shift child care, and 24-hour drop-in services.
Outcomes
- Its innovative financing model lowered costs and catalyzed private investment in an under-invested corridor, contributing to neighborhood revitalization.
- It provided commercial and retail space for small local businesses, along with community amenities such as a fitness room, rooftop terrace, green common areas, and indoor bicycle storage.