By Sue Moore
After five years of building an alliance with one of the top design-build construction companies in southwest Michigan, the Vicksburg Village Council passed a resolution to allow the necessary infrastructure improvements so that construction of a condominium community to be known as Bridgeview at Angels Crossing can begin.
The property, now owned by Kalamazoo County State Bank (KCSB), will be developed with American Village Builders (AVB), a 40 year-old design-build firm in Portage, as the contractor.
In addition, the Village has approved funding for the needed infrastructure improvements. Funding for the project will come from the approved sale of bonds that are expected to be sold and funded on or before July 15.
The infrastructure improvements will include a new entry road into the Angels Crossing Golf Course and Bridgeview Condominiums, paving, berms, tree plantings, new lighting for the entry, streets, and parking lots, and a new cul-de-sac, all on the village owned property. All of the approved changes were reviewed by the village council as presented by Jack Gesmundo one of the Principals of AVB and Jim MacPhee, CEO of KCSB at Thursday’s (WHAT DATE? Saying Thursday doesn’t help because this comes out next week.) council meeting.
The total cost to the village will amount to $540,000 for the infrastructure, Ken Schippers, interim village manager told the council members. Based on data from Tracy Cross and Associates, a firm that has 40 plus years in the study of demographics, and trends, the estimated time frame to complete the sale of the new condos is approximately four years. The taxable value to the village could amount to somewhere near $12 million, with actual tax capture around $90,000 each year.
“This is a quality development that AVB has proposed,” said Bill Adams, village president, in recommending approval. “It fits into our growth plan for the village and may even help us with more money flowing into the Brownfield funds.”
AVB and the village have worked out a separate agreement for further expansion of the project (phase II), with the village selling a separate piece of property it owns, originally planned for a small chapel. The agreed price for the parcel is $40,000 and will bring the actual net cost to $500,000. The name of the project will remain Bridgeview at Angels Crossing.
Gesmundo lauded the property’s potential, saying that AVB would not have been interested in building a project such as this, had it not been for the municipal ownership of the golf course. “You have an exceptional asset in Angels Crossing,” he said. “It’s very unusual for a town this size to have a top 50 golf course. It wouldn’t warrant a project of this scope, without the amenity of the golf course.”
(The Top 50 designation was given to the course by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest.)
As an incentive for prospective purchasers, the village donated three-year walking golf memberships to the first seven who purchase a condo, he said.
The road construction will begin immediately with the initial phase being the entry off of W Avenue, Schippers said. They want to create a “sense of arrival” with upgraded signage. They will add a cul-de-sac and reconfigure the turnaround to separate the condo traffic from that headed toward the golf course.
KCSB has hired Gardner Management to oversee maintenance and manage the owners association.
Construction will begin this fall, and will be overseen by AVB as well. The first two unit condo will be completed in approximately five months.