Garfield Landing, located at 510 E. Spruce Street in Sault Ste. Marie, continues to accept applications for their 32 apartments.
This is on the site of the former Garfield School that was built in 1898.
It remained open to students until 1970. The district, however, continued to use the building for support services until 1989.
It sat idle until early 2023 when construction started on Garfield Landing.
In addition to the Garfield School renovation into apartments, an apartment building on that same property was constructed from the ground up.
Eighteen apartments are in the newly constructed building with an additional 14 in the old Garfield School itself.
Crystal Payne, Property Manager of the Eastern U.P. for KMG Prestige.
KMG Prestige manages several hundred properties throughout Michigan and the Great Lakes and Midwest.
In the new building, the first tenants will be moving in later this week. The apartments in the old school building will be available mid to late summer because of the ongoing construction, according to Payne.
"With the historic funding, the walls to classrooms had to be left where they were at. They had to keep the oval living room areas. The layouts are all going to be different in that building compared to this new building," Payne said.
"The response from the community has been great. People have wanted to do tours of the school building, but unfortunately, we cannot do tours yet (because of the construction)", Payne said.
"There is a need for housing in our area. This is a great investment in the area," Payne added.
With MHSDA tax credits, the community is provided affordable housing to eligible applicants with income restrictions, according to Payne.
There are studio, one and two-bedroom apartments including some A.D.A units available.
Al Martin, V.P. of Real Estate for Community Housing Network, Inc. from Troy, MI. which is a housing non-profit provider.
"In 2018, we were invited to town by, then DDA Director Justin Knepper. We looked at a bunch of properties around the Soo and talked to the city administration. It took us three years to nail down this exact site. We started construction 13 months ago," Martin said.
After it is all said and done, Martin said the cost of the entire project will be around $12.8 million and is pleased with the relationship with the city.
"It has. We are really excited about Sault Ste. Marie. We are excited to find another property for housing," Martin added.
The building that was once the Courthouse Annex, located across the street from the Chippewa County Courthouse, is currently being renovated for affordable housing.
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