An effort to revitalize downtown Kingsley has led to a proposed new development in a vacant Main Street building – a project officials hope will spur further investment in other underutilized sites along the corridor.

Grand Traverse County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (BRA) officials will consider approving a $15,000 loan today (Wednesday) to the Kingsley Downtown Development Authority to create a brownfield plan for the proposed development at 116 West Main Street. Traverse City dentist Dr. Erik Burke plans to partner with a development group to renovate the historic building, a former gas station constructed in the 1920s that was used in subsequent decades as an automobile repair shop, car sales showroom, machine shop, and vehicle restoration facility. The two-story, 6,000 square-foot building “hasn’t been utilized for awhile,” says Kingsley DDA Treasurer Marc McKellar. “There hasn’t been a long-term tenant there for quite a long time.”

Burke plans to open a new Kingsley practice in the renovated building, bringing only the second dentist’s office to the village – a much-needed service, McKellar says. In addition to bringing 15 new jobs to Kingsley through Burke’s practice, the development will offer much-needed downtown public parking and a lower-level commercial/office space for an as-yet-unnamed future tenant. The project is expected to triple the site’s property value, from $60,000 to $180,000.

The development is the first potential brownfield project to come out of a 2015 public visioning process, in which residents created a community “wish list” of businesses and improvements they wanted to see in Kingsley. Following that process, the village was granted a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) grant to conduct environmental assessments on five dilapidated properties, including the 116 Main Street parcel. The goal was to identify sites that qualified for environmental clean-up incentives and brownfield funding and then work to attract investors to help redevelop those properties.

Burke and his investors hope to make a number of improvements to the Main Street parcel, which is saddled with contaminated soil and site conditions due to the property’s long history of automotive uses. Several contaminants – including arsenic – were detected in site samples during the environmental assessment, which also found that groundwater discharges could pose a threat to Swainston Creek, a nearby watershed that empties into the Boardman River. As part of the proposed clean-up, the contaminated soil would either be disposed of or relocated on-site and capped beneath a paved parking lot. In addition to rehabilitating the building, the project also calls for adding new stormwater controls on the property, improving the adjacent alley and parking lot, and relocating overhead electric lines.

If BRA members approve the $15,000 loan to the DDA today, those funds will pay for Kingsley officials to work with developers and create an official brownfield plan for the property, returning in the near future with an application for brownfield reimbursement for clean-up. McKellar estimates the reimbursement request will be between $120,000 and $170,000. Private investment in the project is expected to total $850,000.

Kingsley officials and developers are eyeing an aggressive timeline for brownfield approval this spring, a process requiring both local and state sign-off that normally can stretch out for several months. Burke hopes to open his practice this summer, prompting Kingsley to target bringing back in an application within the next 30-45 days to get the ball rolling. McKellar believes the project will be attractive to the BRA and hopes the relatively low request – as compared to multi-million-dollar brownfield applications that often come before the board – will help expedite approvals.

“The reality is that government makes things slow, but this is an opportunity for the brownfield to move at a little faster pace,” he says. “What’s important is that this is a project that’s outside of Traverse City. A lot of county taxpayers pay for projects that are mostly in the city, so I think (the BRA) would be excited for this.”

If all goes according to plan, officials hope the new development could spur further growth in Kingsley. An adjacent non-conforming residence located next to 116 Main Street is on the market and could eventually be redeveloped as a commercial property included in the village brownfield plan, says McKellar. A successful brownfield project in the downtown corridor could also encourage investors to look at other village properties that qualify for clean-up funding. “This is what the DDA has wanted (out of the visioning process),” McKellar says.

Grand Traverse County Interim Administrator Jean Derenzy, who provided guidance to Kingsley through the visioning and environmental assessment process, agrees the development could act as a domino for other projects. “The goal was always to see these (brownfield) projects occur within the village of Kingsley,” she says. “It takes time to get interest and investment into the area. But this is what we were hoping would occur, which is new investment in this corridor and connectivity to downtown."