Ottawa County Board of Commissioners supports 84-unit Hudsonville TIF project

Ottawa County, Michigan sent this bulletin at 05/01/2025 01:49 PM EDT

For Immediate Release | 5.1.2025
Press contact: Department of Strategic Impact | 616-738-4852

County Board of Commissioners supports 84-unit Hudsonville
housing TIF project

Twelve units will be reserved
for income-qualified households

In a show of support for local solutions to ongoing housing stock challenges, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners at their April 22 meeting approved a brownfield tax increment financing (TIF) plan to help support the redevelopment of a nearly seven-acre Hudsonville site into a townhome community.

The project proposal, submitted by Hudsonville-based real estate developer and management company LaCati Group, would bring 84 one-bedroom townhomes to a long-vacant site at 6365 Balsam Drive on the northeast side of Hudsonville. Twelve of these units will be reserved for income-qualified households - four capped at 80 percent of area median income (AMI), and eight at 90 percent AMI (currently $64,800 for one person, $74,070 for two people).

With approval from the City of Hudsonville, review by the Ottawa County Brownfield Development Authority (OCBRA) and support from the County Board of Commissioners, all that remains is an official endorsement from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

"Every community has different housing needs," said Ottawa County Economic Development Coordinator Becky Huttenga. "Housing TIF can be effective because it's easily customizable. This flexibility puts the municipality in the driver's seat."

A angled rendering of The Landings at Rush Creek, a 84-unit townhome development planned for a long-vacant site on the northeast side of Hudsonville.

The Landings at Rush Creek will bring 84 one-bedroom townhomes to a long-vacant site on the northeast side of Hudsonville. [Renderings courtesy of LaCati Group]

The Landings at Rush Creek is unique because it will provide a housing option that is missing from the Hudsonvillle area - one-bedroom townhomes with attached garages. Although the city has recently approved multiple multi-family apartment buildings and mixed-use structures, including Hudsonville Flats, Terra Station and Prospect Flats, rowhouse-style communities haven't been in the mix.

"Smaller, well-constructed, and attainable housing units are necessary and fulfill a very real need but can't be the only solution. Many young professionals, as well as people looking to downsize, find rowhouse-style living more attractive," said Hudsonville City Manager Tyler Dotson. "Local business leaders have requested this type of workforce housing, and The Landings will deliver."

Working closely with the Hudsonville Planning Commission, LaCati Group designed a planned unit development that fits both the needs and vision of Hudsonville. "Hudsonville and neighboring communities wanted something that would blend better with the existing housing inventory," said LaCati Group President Chad Cassiday. "The Landings ... has two-story versus three-story structures, attached garages versus lighted surface parking lots - this gives the project a more neighborhood feel."

Other attractive features planned for the community include a lake feature on the west end with a walking trail with access to regional bike trails, and a community garden.

The Landings provide a housing option that is missing from the Hudsonville - one bedroom townhomes with attached garages.

The Landings provide a housing option that is missing from the Hudsonville area - one bedroom townhomes with attached garages. [Renderings courtesy of LaCati Group]

Other attractive features planned for the community include a lake feature on the west end with a walking trail, and a community garden.

Other attractive features planned for the community include a lake feature on the west end with a walking trail with access to regional bike trails, and a community garden.

More on the project

The LaCati Group is investing $12.6 million to revitalize the former garden center site tucked behind the Hudsonville meeting place Signatures Coffee & Expresso. The parcel has laid vacant since the late 1990s due in large part to the need for a significant amount of site preparation, including the removal of greenhouse structures and foundations, an old parking lot, abandoned utilities, as well as major grading work. Much of the total approximately $5.7 million in approved tax capture will be used to offset these costs over the 20-year life of the TIF plan.

"Previous zoning restrictions and the high cost of the necessary site prep work and infrastructure, roughly $2.7 million, have held this site back from redevelopment. With the support of housing TIF, we can fulfill housing needs and add value to a parcel that has sat vacant for roughly 25 years," said Dotson.

Once final approval is granted from MSHDA, LaCati Group anticipates site preparation and construction to begin in August 2025, and expects the development to be finished by summer 2026 and ready for leasing by LaCati soon after.

About Brownfields and Housing TIF

Until late 2023, Public Act 381 of 1996, known as the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act, authorized support for projects where redevelopment was complicated by contamination, blight, or functional obsolescence. Additionally, if a property was located in a core community or under the control of a land bank, redevelopment on properties which were not contaminated, blighted, or functionally obsolete could also be supported with TIF. As the housing crisis worsened, legislators recognized that Act 381 could be adjusted to allow certain housing development activities to be supported with TIF in the same way.

To date, four housing TIF plans have been approved in Ottawa County. These projects will bring 239 new housing units to the County, with 49 of those reserved for income-qualified households. Housing TIF is a flexible tool that helps local communities meet their specific development and housing needs. Once a TIF project is complete, the property taxes continue to be paid by the developer/landowner, but a portion of that increased tax revenue is captured then reimbursed to the developer for certain eligible expenses approved in the brownfield redevelopment plan. Construction costs and other market conditions have slowed new housing starts in recent years. Housing TIF helps to make these projects financially feasible so that housing inventory increases can be accelerated, and housing demand can be alleviated.

For more information on the MSDHA Housing Tax Increment Financing Program, visit michigan.gov/mshda/developers/tax-increment-financing-tif.

About the Ottawa County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority

The Ottawa County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (OCBRA) works cooperatively with all cities, villages, and townships in the County to provide access to incentives and support for brownfield redevelopment, particularly for those communities that do not have a local BRA. The OCBRA meets as needed on the third Thursday of the month at the County Administration Building in West Olive. For more information about brownfield redevelopment, visit miottawa.org/brownfield.