Meridian Township green lights development to create a downtown Okemos

OKEMOS — Meridian Township leaders have approved a massive development proposal in Okemos. 

The area is bordered by Ardmore Avenue and Okemos Road to the east and west and by Methodist and Clinton streets to the north and south. Part of the site is the former home to Bottoms Up dance wear and the Okemos Ace Hardware. 

The $110 million project — called the Village of Okemos — includes seven buildings totaling nearly 290,000 square feet. Most of the buildings will be four stories tall. Some will have a fifth story. 

The Meridian Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved the site plan for the project from North Star Development this week. 

“I’m hoping it’s going to create a wonderful place for people who want to gather as a community," said Will Randle, True North Development's chief executive officer.  

The project is expected to create 100 new jobs and will include about 175 apartments and about 66,000 square feet of retail space. 

A new Douglas J site will be the anchor development. Having the salon as a locked-in tenant is key in attracting other businesses to the site, Randle said. 

Okemos doesn't have a lot of entertainment options for local residents, and the project could help fill that void, Buck said. 

“We want to give our residents the ability to have a unique destination shopping area," Meridian Township Economic Development Director Chris Buck said. "We have the big box stuff, the national chains, all the things you’d expect us to have.”

Buck said the project fits in with what community members asked for during a master planning sessions a few years prior. People are looking for places in the community where they can gather and spend their entertainment money. 

Randle said he expects most of the retail portion of the project to have a food and drink focus. He envisions a bakery, brewery and restaurant potentially taking up space in the project, helping make it a destination for foodies. 

The first phase of the project should wrap up in two years, Randle said. He expects about a year wait period between the first and second phase. 

Environmental clean-up

The township and the state still need to approve a brownfield plan for the project. Buck said he expects about a $20 million brownfield plan for the project. Brownfield plans use taxes generated from a new project to reimburse developers for environmental remediation on the site. 

Randle said the site's contaminants primarily come from the solvents from the former dry cleaner and former gas stations. Randle said he expects all of the buildings on the property to be torn down by the end of the year. 

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is already working on the site to clean up contaminants, Randle said. 

“This project is as complicated as is gets,” he said. "Without 110 percent support from all parties, we couldn’t do this project.”

Third time's the charm

Randle's proposal isn't the first for a downtown Okemos project in recent years. 

In 2016, Douglas J dropped its own plans for a $10 million redevelopment project in the area.

And in 2017, developer Kris Elliott abandoned a $15 million plan to transform the southwest corner of Okemos and Hamilton roads into a mixed-use development after he was unable to acquire the other properties on the block.

Randle said the previous projects weren't large enough to help fund the clean up on the site. A bigger project means more tax revenue to pay for the environmental remediation

He said he hopes his project spurs additional interest in development in the surrounding area. 

"Okemos needs some identity. It needs a center,” he said."I hope that this can be that.” 

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.