180-unit Portage apartment project receives $4.7M in state brownfield incentives

180-unit Portage apartment project receives $4.7M in state brownfield incentives
Tall Timbers Portage LLC plans a 180-unit development on West Centre Avenue in Portage. (COURTESY IMAGE)

PORTAGE — A Southwest Michigan company received state approval today for $4.7 million in brownfield incentives to build a four-story, 180-unit apartment development in the city of Portage.

At a special meeting today, the Michigan Strategic Fund board of directors approved the incentives for the Tall Timbers Portage LLC project at 3413 W. Centre Ave., less than 1 mile east of the U.S. 131 highway. The city of Portage also is supporting the project through a local tax capture portion of the brownfield plan, valued at $6.4 million.

The city identified Tall Timbers as a priority because it will help address housing needs driven partly by expansion projects at nearby companies including Stryker Corp. and Pfizer Inc. Ten percent of the housing units will be reserved for households earning between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income. 

The project, which will transform a former dump site, also includes a 147-space parking deck.

“The transformative and compelling Tall Timbers project is located on a transit line, is part of a growing and intense walkable mixed-use corridor, has a minimum 10 percent workforce housing component and will be the first privately owned gold Leed certified development in our city’s history,” Portage City Manager Pat McGinnis said in a statement. “The Tall Timbers project checks all the boxes for Portage.”

Tall Timbers Portage LLC is a venture of Portage-based developer The Hinman Co. and Joseph Gesmundo, co-founder of Portage-based AVB Construction LLC. The developers also plan to seek LEED certification for sustainable building and development practices at Tall Timbers.

Construction crews have wrapped up site preparation for Tall Timbers and expect to begin construction in earnest after receiving the brownfield incentives, with a targeted completion date in 2024, according to a report from media partner WOOD-TV8.

The Tall Timbers will leverage more than $48 million in private investment, according to a memo from the MSF Board meeting.