Kalamazoo's newest apartment complex has thrown open the doors to its first building and clubhouse, marking the debut of a 228-unit development that sat as contaminated, industrial land for years before construction began. River's Edge Apartments, located at 640 Gull Road, sits alongside the Jack Coombs Trailway and the Kalamazoo River, and about half of its units are already available for lease.
The project traces back to 2016, when River Caddis Group and Standard Communities formed a joint venture to answer a City of Kalamazoo request for proposals, according to MLive. It took roughly a decade to develop, a timeline complicated by the fact that project construction costs jumped 40% once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, per the same report. Standard Communities' involvement marks the national developer's first investment in Michigan, according to Multi-Housing News.
John McGraw, describing the effort, said community stakeholders invested in affordable housing for the region, and called the project a very long process, per MLive's reporting. He also pushed back on a common assumption about newly built units, saying River's Edge rents do not cost more simply because the apartments are new.
Financing Stitched Together From City, County and State Sources
The development is capitalized at $56 million through a public-private partnership that includes the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Kalamazoo County, the City of Kalamazoo, and equity partner WNC & Associates, according to Multi-Housing News. It also operates as a 4% low-income housing tax credit project, per MLive. Additional funding came from city pandemic funds, a Kalamazoo County loan, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, the outlet reports, which separately provided $2.6 million in environmental grants to clean up the contaminated site next to former industrial operations, according to AVB Commercial Construction. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority also provided direct lending for the project, per MLive.
The 7.4-acre development spans two main parcels at 508 Harrison Street and 660 Gull Road northeast of downtown Kalamazoo, according to Multi-Housing News. Regional firm Abonmarche Byce handled architectural, interior design, civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineering work, while AVB served as construction manager, per the firm's project page.
Studios to Two-Bedrooms, With Rents Tied to Income Levels
River's Edge reserves 81% of its units for people making up to 60% of area median income, which equals up to $44,000 annually for a single person, according to MLive. Another 44 units are set aside for people earning up to 120% of AMI. The complex includes 32 studio apartments, 140 one-bedroom units, and 56 two-bedroom apartments.
Studio apartments start at $990 a month for residents at or below 60% AMI, with Ripple and Mist floor plans measuring 503 and 563 square feet, respectively, the latter with a balcony option, per MLive. One-bedroom units start at $1,088 a month and come in six floor plans ranging from 652 to 978 square feet. Two-bedroom apartments start at $1,294 a month, with four floor plans between 933 and 1,091 square feet. Every unit includes refrigerators, dishwashers, quartz countertops, and in-unit washers and dryers, and some units offer balconies, according to the same report.
Four live/work townhomes, expected to be complete in October, will be available at the 120% AMI threshold and are designed to let entrepreneurs run a business from home for the same rent as a standard unit, per MLive. The outlet reports the spaces could accommodate businesses such as public-relations firms, marketing agencies, hair salons, and barbershops. A second apartment building is also expected to be complete in October.
Local Ordinance Shapes Who Can Apply
Tenant application processing at River's Edge must comply with a City of Kalamazoo ordinance that regulates how landlords use criminal background checks during screening, according to Zillow, a rule intended to give people with prior records a fairer shot at securing housing. The clubhouse itself includes a game room, cafe, fitness center, office meeting space, and work rooms, MLive reports, alongside two barbecue stations and a playground on the grounds. Security features include electronic access to all doors and a nighttime patrol.
The site's location was a selling point cited in MLive's reporting: Verburg and Harrison parks sit across the street, Bell's Eccentric Cafe is within a half-mile, and a cluster of restaurants, breweries, and bars are also within that radius. The complex is less than a mile from downtown Kalamazoo and the Kalamazoo Event Center, which is set to open in 2027 for sports and entertainment events. On-site pedestrian paths also connect to the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail, a paved network currently spanning 24 miles with plans to reach 35 miles across the county, according to Kalamazoo County government.
A Small Piece of a Much Bigger Shortage
River's Edge lands amid a housing crunch the county has been grappling with for years. An updated April 2025 Kalamazoo County Housing Plan from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research projected countywide demand for roughly 8,000 new housing units by 2030 to keep pace with population growth and economic development, and found the number of financially overburdened local renters grew by 2,500 between 2022 and 2025.
The city and county have layered other investments on top of projects like this one. In December 2025, the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners approved a $23.3 million anonymous philanthropic investment over three years to fund the ‘Keys to Kalamazoo’ housing framework, which supports voucher pilots, shelter operations, and gaps in housing construction, according to Kalamazoo County government. Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson has separately noted the city committed nearly $29 million toward affordable housing and housing stability initiatives between 2020 and late 2024, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the Holiday Inn shelter conversion. That spending backdrop sits alongside continued pressure on the city's unsheltered population, including a recent clearing of a 30-tent encampment on Kalamazoo's Northside, per Hoodline.
