The City of Charlotte’s downtown revitalization efforts received a boost Wednesday, Jan. 7 with the announcement that its application for Rental Rehabilitation Grant funds from the Michigan State Housing DevelopmDowntown apartmentsent Authority has been approved.
The grants will provide $240,000 toward the development of six new apartment units downtown. Private investment will be utilized to complete the projects — four new apartments within the Masonic Temple building as well as a single unit on Cochran Avenue and another single unit on Lawrence Avenue.
“The creation of new apartments downtown benefits the central business district in at least three ways,” said Community Development Director Bryan Myrkle. “First, it increases the number of potential customers living in and around downtown. It also provides the building owner with an additional revenue source from their property. And, it helps sustain the downtown as a whole, by ensuring the maintenance and usability of upper floor spaces that might otherwise be neglected.”
The application for funding was submitted in September and Chuck Garrison, president of the Masonic building association, said he is eager to move forward. The Masonic association has architectural plans in place for the creation of three two-bedroom apartments and one one-bedroom apartment on the first floor of the Masonic Temple.
“We hope to have bids out within the next 60 days,” Garrison said. “We have the architectural drawings done, but we need to complete all of the detail contained in the mechanicals.”
Garrison said the Masonic Association needed to consider new sources of revenue following SIREN/Eaton Shelter’s move last year. SIREN was the lone tenant in the building.
“Maintaining this 110-year-old building is expensive,” Garrison said. “This is about saving this building for the city and the Masons of course. It’s such a historic building; we really feel an obligation to maintain it for the city.”
Garrison said that though the process has taken longer than expected to this point, he is excited to be working with MSHDA.
“They really pride themselves on doing everything first class,” he said. “What we expect out of this is to have state of the art apartments for people that want to be a part of the downtown.”
The creation of downtown apartments is one of the improvement components contained within the Downtown Revitalization Strategy unveiled in November.