Oshtemo Township’s board approved a resolution supporting tax increment financing for West Main Villages, a 444-unit mixed-use development off West Main Street.
The project, being developed by West Main 1, LLC across from AbbVie, includes 108 duplex units for sale and 336 multi-family rental units, along with roughly 50,000 square feet of commercial space. Site clearing is already underway. Of the rental units, 66 will be income-restricted for 12 years to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. The total project represents an anticipated $117 million investment.
Monday’s vote doesn’t approve the project’s site plan or zoning as that still goes through the township’s Planning Commission separately. Instead, it supports a brownfield plan that allows the developer to recover eligible infrastructure and site-preparation costs through captured property tax revenue over time, up to roughly $40 million over 25 years. Brownfield financing has traditionally applied to contaminated or blighted sites, but a 2023 change to state law extended it to qualifying housing projects.
Joe Agostinelli of Miller Johnson Growth Advisors, the project’s brownfield consultant, told the board the financing addresses a gap between construction costs and what the project could otherwise support financially. An independent review by Plante Moran concluded the project likely wouldn’t be viable without the incentive. Trustee Zak Ford asked why the rent restriction runs 12 years while the tax capture continues for 25. It is a mismatch Agostinelli said is common, since the financing timeline is tied to recovering the developer’s upfront costs rather than the affordability period itself.
A resident raised concerns during public comment about how the property came to qualify as a brownfield site and whether neighboring residents were aware of the project. The resident noted the plans had changed substantially from an earlier version they recalled from a packed Planning Commission meeting, which had included single-family homes and a Kroger, and said they didn’t see anyone from the neighboring Sky King community in attendance. Township officials clarified that this vote was specifically about enabling the brownfield tax financing tool, not approving the site plan, which will still go through its own Planning Commission review and public process.
The resolution passed 7-0.
What’s next: The plan moves to Kalamazoo County next. County commissioners will get a presentation at their Committee of the Whole meeting, followed by a public hearing and formal adoption consideration at a future county board meeting.
