200-unit apartment complex could come to Lincoln Township

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP, Mich.-- Two hundred new apartment units could come to Lincoln Township just outside Stevensville.

Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber President Arthur Havlicek said Berrien County has a shortage of all kinds of housing, particularly for what he calls the "missing middle."

"That 'missing middle' is really for the folks that don't qualify for that lower-income housing, and can't afford that market-rate rent," he said. "At the chamber, the thing we hear the most from employers is the lack of available housing for their workforce."

South Bend developer Great Lakes Capital is looking to provide some of that housing with the "Red Arrow Bluffs" project proposal.

It would be a series of three-story buildings with single, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments, plus some communal spaces like a pool. Some units would be restricted to a percentage of the area median income, keeping those units more affordable for that "missing middle," according to Havlicek.

"Our region has been struggling for housing of any type, really, but that missing middle is critical for working professionals, think your teachers, police, firefighters, skilled trades, other essential workers," he said. "They have a hard time living in the community that they work in because they can't find that housing."

The project is proposed at 3822 Red Arrow Highway, the former site of the Snowflake Motel. It opened in 1962, and the site design was approved by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

However, the motel became a bit of a public nuisance in its final years and was torn down in 2006. The land has sat empty since.

"Even though the land has been sitting there, development proposals have been few and far between," Havlicek said.

The project is in its infancy; the Lincoln Charter Township Board of Trustees approved the zoning change required for it to move forward Tuesday. That's just one step of many to get this off the ground.

"For our region, there's really no other housing initiative this scale, this scope, this size," Havlicek said. "We're really excited to bring it because we think it's going to be one of the nicest places to live in Berrien County."

If all approvals are met, ground could be broken before the year's end, and units could start getting rented out next year.