Located in Michigan’s southwest, the City of Kalamazoo is pursuing thoughtful, intentional growth that has positioned the community as a welcoming and attractive destination.
Home to Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo’s population is diverse and grows with each school year. Beyond its First Division hockey team and the countless others who proudly wear the Broncos’ colors, the city has cause to celebrate many other wins as well. Thanks to a strong economy built on thriving education, healthcare, life sciences, and manufacturing sectors, the city is also becoming a hub for sports tourism, entertainment, and recreation, supported by its natural endowments and amenities that showcase the four seasons of fun it offers.
With hiking trails for adventure, hills for skiing, lakes and wilderness for camping, fishing, and hunting, and athletics and entertainment, there is truly something for everyone in Kalamazoo. To maximize the economic impact and draw of these amenities, city officials and their development partners are working around the clock to ensure that the city’s growth adds to its hospitable culture and environment.
“We try to be a very welcoming community, and I think that the college atmosphere and the young energy we have help with that,” says Director of Community Planning and Economic Development, Antonio Mitchell. “We’re conscious of our neighbors, we recognize the differences and celebrate the differences.”
Growing with intention
The City of Kalamazoo is at a particularly important time in its history, as its leaders are working to grow this vibrant community for the benefit of all. To see this plan through, they have adopted a new economic development strategy.
Approved in 2024 after a 10-month discovery process and community consultation, Kalamazoo’s economic development strategy takes a place-based approach and seeks to leverage the full participation of its partners to maximize the benefits of ongoing and planned projects in the community.
“I call it the documentation and road map for our residents and our economic development team to really implement the economic vision for the community,” says Mitchell. “We want to help more businesses expand and grow—especially micro and small businesses—so we’re working with our Can-Do Kalamazoo campus and incubator as well to assist them and make sure individuals in our neighborhoods also have opportunities.”
Energy surrounded by possibility
“There’s an energy in Kalamazoo,” Mitchell adds, speaking to the spirit of possibility that enables the continuous improvement that characterizes the city. From infrastructure investments to housing and recreation, there is a strong commitment by both the public and private sectors to invest in the community.
Beyond the Kalamazoo Promise—a scholarship fund through which private anonymous donors commit to paying for the tuition of qualifying candidates in the city to attend post-secondary education in the state—philanthropy is rich in this community and is making all the difference. One has to look no further than the Kalamazoo Event Center to see this in action.
The Kalamazoo Event Center is a project that’s been in the works for two decades. Paid for by private dollars, the project will provide immense civic benefits and will further transform the city’s downtown core. The $515 million, 453,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex is expected to be completed by 2027, at which time it will become home to Western Michigan University Broncos hockey (2025 Division One champions) and basketball teams, as well as the Kalamazoo Wings hockey team.
There’s also a new home for youth and recreational sports in Kalamazoo. The Sports Complex is another highly anticipated project for the city that will help take youth and recreational sports and sports tourism to the next level. Located on a 20-acre parcel in the Westwood neighborhood, this $40 million project will feature an indoor turf field and eight basketball courts that can be converted into 16 volleyball courts. The project is being paid for by a four percent hotel assessment tax which will cover the acquisition, construction, and maintenance of the complex.
This push to invigorate an already strong sports tourism draw is just part of the effort to establish the community as what Mitchell calls “a future entertainment hub in Western Michigan.” Where these opportunities can be created, they tend to make ripples in the form of greater retail, restaurant, and hospitality spend, which strengthens the tax base and grows the reputation of the community.
With additional draws like the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, Miller Auditorium, and amenities like Michigan Adventure (a theme park a short drive away), the city and region are replete with things to do and see.
With a robust transportation system, it’s also easy to get around. Kalamazoo enjoys proximity and connectivity to nearby Detroit, Chicago, and Indiana, thanks to its highway systems, Amtrak, and local airport, which make the city even more accessible for people from across the region, state, and country to visit and stay. Work is also underway downtown, where the city is improving streetscapes and traffic flow. Confusing one-way streets are yielding to two-way traffic flow, and the city is set to become more navigable, walkable, and bikeable soon, cheering residents and visitors alike.
What’s old is new again
Doubling down on investments, the City of Kalamazoo is considering the establishment of a business district near the airport to better leverage that asset and grow the surrounding amenities. This new gateway district will increase awareness of the city and established operations like the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum. The move will be in partnership with the City of Portage, and together, they hope to grow the business presence in that area through existing incentives and support.
Downtown, there is a lot more than just sports and entertainment under development. The city’s core is home to a historic courthouse that was built in 1937 but has been off the tax roll for many decades. Now, however, this building is coming back in a big way thanks to PlazaCorp Realty Advisors, who plan to transform three brownfield sites across the city into housing, commercial space, and a 127-room boutique hotel located in the courthouse building.
The courthouse itself is “ideally located only a block and a half from the new event center. People can come down for a concert, stay at the hotel, and walk to the concert and the restaurants in the area,” says Mitchell of the project.
Other projects will see a dilapidated vacant industrial building on Porter Street revitalized into 58 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space, and the previous Spearflex building on Kalamazoo Avenue become office space and an additional 57 housing units.
Residential development is also coming to the core of the city, particularly workforce housing, which will help address the need for housing stock at all levels while alleviating parking concerns, especially at Bronson Methodist Hospital, a major employer in the city.
The B on Burdick, which is being undertaken through a partnership of Bronson and Bogan Developments, will break ground across from the hospital in June and, once complete in 2028, will provide an additional 85 units, 20 of which will be available for qualifying hospital employees. The project features a gym and grocery store, and with childcare nearby, promises enviable work-life balance.
There is also a redevelopment on the Kalamazoo River, at another previously blighted site. The project, Rivers Edge, will feature two four-story apartment buildings with 228 units, of which 14 will be designated as affordable housing for individuals earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), while the remaining 44 will be earmarked for those earning at or below 130 percent of the AMI. There will also be four live-work units.
“Those things make a difference in our community,” said Mitchell. “We’ve been trying to focus on a diverse selection of housing—affordable housing, workforce housing, market-rate housing. We need it all, and we want to make sure we open up those opportunities.”
Renewed visions, bright futures
While Kalamazoo undergoes physical transformation from the many developments both ongoing and planned, there is also a renewal in perspective taking hold, particularly around cannabis legalization and its economic impact. The Kalamazoo Social Equity Cannabis Chamber, established in partnership with the City of Kalamazoo’s Office of Economic Development, seeks to invest in entrepreneurship and workforce development to improve diversity, equity, and opportunity in the cannabis sector, ensuring that the economic benefits of this new (but old) sector accrue to all, and particularly those who have been historically affected by prohibition.
From Mitchell’s perspective, “We’re trying to be a beacon of opportunity for individuals in the region to see the possibilities and opportunities and be a voice, not only of change, but stability. I think the investments and developments happening in our city and region are really aiming to put a footprint on West Michigan.”
For Mitchell, who is soon to seek retirement, “the long-term vision is making Kalamazoo a regional destination for Southwest Michigan.” His goal is to ensure that the next generation of community and economic developers is equipped, empowered, and ready to continue the good work already taking place.
And, inevitably, where development and growth are intentional, where the community is welcoming and has the resources and amenities to support an enviable quality of life, Kalamazoo will become a destination of choice, regarded by many as a wonderful place to visit, savor, and, perhaps, stay.
So, be sure to visit the City of Kalamazoo. Whether you come for a game or a tournament, a show, higher education, world-class healthcare, or the many recreational amenities on offer, you’ll be embraced and warmed by the charm of the city and the life-enhancing developments happening everywhere.
