The Creamery

The Creamery includes 48 apartments for extremely low- and moderate-income households; a small business accelerator; and Michigan’s first comprehensive early childhood learning center with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shift drop off daycare.

Acting as lead developer, Matt Hollander redeveloped a vacant brownfield with over 300 feet of frontage along an arterial corridor into zero-setback, mixed-use, pedestrian scale commercial and residential. The project includes indoor bicycle parking, a roof deck with green roof, air source heat pumps, and a 36kW solar array. It is also home to the country’s first electric vehicle car share program, available for anyone in the community to register to use at only $5 per hour.

The developers partnered with YWCA Kalamazoo to create The Dreamery, the aforementioned childcare, a 7,800 square foot expansion of YWCA Kalamazoo’s existing early childhood learning network.

The Creamery was the original workforce housing pilot project of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It includes 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits and was the first project in Michigan to connect social impact investors with MSHDA’s tax exempt bond program.