Traverse City commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a brownfield plan for the former Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) Administration Building on Webster Street - now called the Boardman Building - to support developers Ken Richmond and Eric Gerstner building 12 workforce apartments on the property.

The developers recently purchased the building from TCAPS for $750,000 with the goal of saving the building and converting it into residential housing. Richmond and Gerstner plan to build four market-rate condominiums for sale on the top floor of the building and office space on the middle floor that could be leased to one or more tenants. The lowest garden level calls for 12 apartments committed to renters earning between 60 and 100 percent of the area median income (AMI). That would include five studio apartments, six one-bedroom apartments, and one two-bedroom apartment. Rents are expected to range from $1,000 a month for a studio to $1,575 for a large one-bedroom or two-bedroom unit.

However, the developers said brownfield funding was necessary to make the numbers work to provide that workforce housing. Michigan legislation changed recently to allow brownfield tax increment financing (TIF) to be used for workforce housing. The developers' proposed brownfield plan covers $4,233,712 in eligible expenses, covering renovation costs for the income-restricted apartments, environmental due diligence, TCAPS relocation expenses, and other brownfield costs. Without the brownfield TIF, the developers said the workforce apartments would be scrapped and replaced with more market-rate condos.

Multiple Boardman Neighborhood members spoke in favor of the project Tuesday, citing their support for the building's preservation, the proposed rental housing, and the developers' contractual commitment to ban short-term rentals. Commissioner Heather Shaw said it would be "way easier to build condos and sell them" than for the developers to manage rental housing and applauded their commitment to the latter. "I'm confident that this will be a project that will provide value for decades to the City of Traverse City," she said.

Mayor Amy Shamroe agreed. "I think it's a great project repurposing a very beloved building in our community," she said. The brownfield plan will next head to the Grand Traverse County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Grand Traverse County board of commissioners, and the State of Michigan for approval.