Jolly and Okemos roads were missing something to connect the residential area to the commercial area. Welcome to the development of “Elevation.”
The mixed use development will not only bring roughly 400 multifamily units to rent, but will also create a hub with a city market, amphitheater, green space, programs and walkability.
Brent Forsberg, President of T.A. Forsberg, who owns the property, said he and the other developers wanted to bring to the area something that will be compatible, and also bring an experience.
“We wanted something that had the feeling of the experience, not just a living space,” Forsberg said. “[We thought] How do we get people into this community, and not have them get in their car and get out of here?”
The answer: Bring what the people who live in the area, and those visiting, will need within a walkable distance, said Forsberg. He added there will also be a bicycle station, parks, food truck hookups and more.
The philosophy behind the design of Elevation
In the 70s and 80s, Forsberg explained that a lot of buildings were built with no interaction with each other, or the community. They started to be closed off.
“We are going to start opening it up so people can interact with the outdoor/indoor space again,” Forsberg said. “As people come through (the trail system) they will have spots to interact. That is key to a long-term successful community. Having people engaged. And not only the people living here, but also living around it.”
With the trail system going to be going through Elevation, the development will have spots for people to sit, green space for people to enjoy as they walk through. While it will be hard for people coming through Elevation to tell what is public and private, there will be some spots tucked away that will be for resident’s use only.
Forsberg explained that the corer of Jolly and Okemos roads is becoming a destination with hotels, restaurants and other services in the area. However, it is not a walkable stretch. The Meridian mall-area is roughly a 15-minute drive, and that is not during rush hour which can bog down traffic.
“One of the philosophies that we followed was the 10-minute neighborhood,” Forsberg said. “People want to be within 10 minutes of walking to their daily services, and that can build a sustainable and long term neighborhood.
“There is a dry cleaner, two coffee shops and adding more commercial without a lot of residential support doesn’t make a lot of sense. Let’s do something big and different here. It is something that can be an event drawer, which will help local businesses here, and for residents it gives a gathering spot you can walk to most of the year.”
Developers are looking at ways to make the land of Elevation usable most of the year, and in Michigan, we can have a harsh winter to deal with. One way is bringing in fire-pits and covers to allow for the use of land most of the year. Forsberg said they are hoping to make the area usable for 10 months of the year, but are shooting for 12 months.
“It’s a holistic approach to how development works,” Forsberg said. “Society has gone to where people value the experience, especially Millenials. It cannot just benefit the local community; it has to have a greater benefit to the surrounding area as well.”
One of the Development partners, Blue Sky Development, has in the past developed student housing where yoga classes were offered, there was a nutrition specialist on staff and other activities to raise the quality of life and the experience. Elevation is looking at providing these types of programs in the future, and allowing residents to provide feedback with what they would like to see.
“My goal is to have a two-car household function as a one-car household,” Forsberg said. “We can lower the trip counts by adding to the quality of life in a walkable area. That makes a lot of sense, and provides more time to enjoy social interaction without needing to get in the car and drive there.”
By lowering the traffic count, Forsberg is hoping and looking at ways to help lower traffic in the area, which he said can get to be congested during the peak of rush-hour.
Ways Elevation is looking at traffic flow in the area
For two hours a day during rush-hour, the five-lane Jolly and Okemos roads are packed. Forsberg said that come any other time, the roads are calm, especially at night.
“It’s busy when people are coming and going to work,” Forsberg said. “We are paying for all this infrastructure as a society for this corner, and it is being used at capacity about 10-percent a day.”
To help combat the traffic during rush-hour, and have the area be utilized to more capacity, Forsberg said they are looking at compatible uses for the area.
“When we start adding residential and compatible uses back in, there will be no more cost to the roads,” Forsberg said about the traffic. “While people are driving out to work, ours will be coming in, or they will not be needing to move their cars.”
Forsberg said they are also working on transit ideas such as having shuttles and providing expanded parking for the area.
“Here we have a lot of restaurants next door,” Forsberg said. “Our expansion of a parking lot will make it so there will be no worry about overflow during lunch time. It’s the same with the roads. We wouldn’t want to pile a lot more offices with the same hours. We would want to find compatible use and have other people driving in the opposite direction.
“It is a different philosophical mindset on how development is done, but it is not a new one.”
Forsberg said that himself and the development partners have done many case studies, looking at how other cities function with their layout and flow of traffic.
“It’s understanding how these traffic patterns move through the area and how do we get everything to interact with each other in the community,” Forsberg said.
Making a diverse community
Units at Elevation are expected to start in the low $700 and having luxury units that will be in the $1,400 to $1,500 price-range. Forsberg said they are flirting with the idea of having a couple units going higher, but they are not sure if the market will be able to handle it.
They are also working with the housing coalition to have around 3-percent that will be affordable housing that will be income controlled based on 80-percent of the Meridian Township income.
The idea behind this is to bring in young professionals and providing a nice place for them to live even though they may not be able to afford it yet.
This will bring an array of different people to the community, and will also make it a “sustainable neighborhood.”
"You always want to have a mixture of demographics,” Forsberg said. As it moves through the property’s life cycle, it is always relevant to who is there. The ascetics of the buildings, the types of activities that are available. It has to be walkable, and it has to have that sociability.
"This is years and years and years of designing."
