TRAVERSE CITY — Affordable housing developers at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons hope that if some is good, more is better.
The father-son development team of Michael and Robert Jacobson plans a second housing project at the former state hospital grounds, on the heels of their just-opening 39-unit housing project in Building 50. A 28-unit development is planned at Cottage 36, a former residential dorm in Garfield Township that dates to the early 1900s.
The project received a green light this week from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which approved a low-income housing tax credit of up to $1.5 million. Developers also are in line for a federal historic preservation tax credit of about $2.3 million toward estimated $12 million development costs.
Robert Jacobson said they hope to close on the deal by November and open the project next summer.
Plans call for 14 one-bedroom and 14 two-bedroom apartments, open to residents who earn 40 percent to 60 percent of the area's median income. That starts at just under $18,000 for an individual and up to $35,000 for a three-person family. The rents, which include utilities, will range from around $480 per month for a single person and up to $860 for families.
The project targets workers around the Commons like Cody Sovis, 22, an employee at Higher Grounds Trading Co. in The Village. He's close to graduating from Grand Valley State University and said local housing costs are a challenge for young people.
"If you're my age and want to stay in Traverse City, you're going to need that type of housing," Sovis said.
Cottage 36 spans nearly 35,000 square feet and is among several former residential buildings at the former state hospital campus. Jacobson delved into the history of the building and learned it was built with a $62,610 appropriation from the state Legislature in 1903. Funds were earmarked to build a 60-patient men's dorm and a similar-sized women's dorm among other work. Jacobson said his work at the ex-asylum turned him into a student of its history.
"Like so many, I've been bitten by the bug at that place," said Jacobson, who also is president of Leelanau Wine Cellars winery in Omena.
More recently, Cottage 36 was among the state hospital's last functional buildings as the state wound down operations in the late 1980s, he said. It was still being renovated during that decade, and continued to be used for storage and other operations after the hospital closed.
"It's the only building that was never turned off," Jacobson said.
The Jacobsons' 360 Lofts project in Building 50 consumed about 40,000 square feet across three floors and the attic level at the north end of the former administration building. The $13 million project includes 39 units that vary in size from 300-square-foot efficiency units up to 1,200 square-foot, two-bedroom apartments. It quickly filled with tenants.
The Village developers said they're pleased to see another structure in line for revival, particularly a project that will bring in more year-round residents.
"That's what we want to see -- people moving in here," said Raymond Minervini II of The Village.
