Two workforce housing projects are poised to move forward after Grand Traverse County commissioners approved brownfield plans for them Wednesday – the last local step before the plans head to the state for final approval. The developments include a new rental neighborhood with 170 single-family homes in East Bay Township – which will include 35 income-restricted units – and 12 workforce apartments slated for the former TCAPS Administration Building on Webster Street.

LIV AE Development
A new 170-unit rental development of single-family homes – previously referred to as Brigantine, now called LIV AE in project documents – could soon be built on nearly 39 acres off Hammond Road between Four Mile and Vanderlip roads.

Project partners Allen Edwin Homes and Liv Communities received unanimous approval from county commissioners Wednesday – with Commissioner Brian McAllister absent – for a brownfield plan that will help fund the development. Recent legislative changes in Michigan now allow for brownfield funding of workforce housing projects. LIV AE is the second recent project to come forward in Grand Traverse County seeking to use brownfield TIF funding to build housing; another is planned for US-31 South just north of McRae Hill Road in Garfield Township.

Developers plan to build a mixture of three, four, and five-bedroom rental homes at LIV AE, which will average in size from 1,800 to 2,000 square feet (pictured, rendering). The neighborhood will have amenities including dog parks, pickleball courts, playgrounds, boat/RV parking, and an expanded trail system. That trail system will connect into East Bay Township’s Safe Routes to School network – set to be constructed in 2026 – providing trail all the way up to Four Mile/Hammond and then down Hammond, Township Director of Planning & Zoning Claire Karner told county commissioners.

As part of the brownfield plan, 35 homes in LIV AE – or 20 percent of total units – will be dedicated to households earning less than 120 percent of the area median income (AMI). The rental rates for those units will themselves be capped at 100 percent AMI levels. The workforce rental rates are estimated at $2,300 for a three-bedroom home, $2,500 for a four-bedroom home, and $2,800 for a five-bedroom home. In comparison, monthly rents for the market-rate units are estimated at $3,000 for a three-bedroom home, $3,250 for a four-bedroom home, and $3,500 for a five-bedroom home. Developers said it was rare to see workforce housing offered in the form of five-bedroom homes, adding the units would help more families obtain housing in a constrained market.

Developers could be reimbursed roughly $10.5 million in expenses over the life of the brownfield plan, helping to cover costs for the below-market-rate units as well as half the neighborhood’s infrastructure (including the trail system). The 35 income-restricted homes must remain that way for at least 14 years under the plan, with tenants’ incomes verified with the state each year. If any of those units fail to meet that standard or are converted to market-rate, the developers lose their reimbursement eligibility. Units will only be for long-term leases – typically a period of 12-24 months, developers said – not short-term rentals.

East Bay Township planning commissioners have already approved a site plan for LIV AE, and the township’s board of trustees also approved its brownfield plan. Since the Grand Traverse County Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and county commission have also now approved the brownfield plan, it next heads to the state for final approval. Multiple township officials spoke in support of the project Wednesday, saying that developers have been willing to collaborate and compromise on terms to make the project happen. Karner said LIV AE is unique in East Bay Township as a below-market development and will “support the diverse portfolio of homes” under construction. The total project investment is estimated at $49 million, with construction planned to begin soon and be completed by fall 2027.
 
Boardman Building
County commissioners Wednesday also unanimously approved a brownfield plan for the Boardman Building, a redevelopment project planned for the former Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) Administration Building on Webster Street. Developers Ken Richmond and Eric Gerstner 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 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. Otherwise, the workforce units would be scrapped for more market-rate condos. The brownfield plan covers approximately $4.2 million in eligible expenses, covering renovation costs for the income-restricted apartments, environmental due diligence, TCAPS relocation expenses, and other brownfield costs. Traverse City commissioners approved the brownfield plan in September, as did the BRA – with the state again being the next step after receiving county commission approval Wednesday.

As with LIV AE, the brownfield plan requires the income-restricted units to remain so for the entire affordability duration of the plan in order for developers to be reimbursed – in this case, a projected 25 years. Construction is likely to start next spring, with the market-rate condos expected to be complete by the end of 2025 and the workforce apartments and commercial space by the end of 2026, according to the brownfield plan.