Thriving Petoskey: Community partnerships help Victories Square housing project move forward
Phase II of the Victories Square development is underway — and the developers want everyone to know that a major part of this next phase will be a workforce housing parcel.
Led by the Odawa Economic Development Management Inc. (OEDMI), the Victories Square development’s first phase broke ground in 2019, which brought us The Courtyard by Marriott Petoskey, retail stores, and restaurants like Tropical Smoothie cafe. Now, OEDMI plans to build a 127-room Cambria hotel and a 50-unit workforce housing development in the remaining space.
“Housing was always a component of the original plans, but the emphasis to create workforce housing was made even more apparent during Phase I of the project,” says Tanya Gibbs, OEDMI president. “It was difficult to find laborers during construction and even employees to staff the new businesses once they opened.”
OEDMI was established by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians 11 years ago to pursue non-gaming economic opportunities, mainly by redeveloping the old casino site now known as Victories Square. Their ability to create workforce housing using Michigan’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) was achieved thanks to support from Tribal leadership and the larger community, including the Little Traverse Bay Housing Partnership (LTBHP).
“We’ve found that the tax credit is usually awarded to urban areas. The [Little Traverse Bay] Housing Partnership helped us bring this opportunity to our community and become the first tribe to accomplish this,” Gibbs says.
Gibbs explains that the LIHTC isn’t the only government assistance that’s typically awarded to more urban places. “A majority of state funding, federal funding, or even private grants are awarded to applicants from more populated locations. Our area is frequently overlooked,” Gibbs continues.
For locals, it’s been well known that Petoskey and other Northern Michigan towns have a housing crisis — just read the headlines or ask around, it’s a piping-hot topic. But Gibbs says that’s not enough: we need to bring that same level of awareness to the state and even federal level.
Forming interstate partnerships may be one way to generate a higher level of attention to Northern Michigan’s critical housing needs. OEDMI has recently formed a relationship with 1822 Land and Development, a similar entity of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, to continue work on affordable housing. 1822 Land and Development is a real estate development company with 18 commercial developments and 35 leases they manage on behalf of their tribe on the other side of Lake Michigan.
"We are excited to partner with OEDMI and the greater Petoskey community with their workforce development project,” says Pete King, 1822’s general manager.
“When looking at investment projects and diversification, it is important that we can partner with companies that have the same mission as us which is to improve the lives of others. OEDMI and its board members made it clear from the beginning of our discussions that this project will serve as a business model that will not only serve tribal needs, but the community as a whole," he says.
OEDMI says that this new partnership, the allocation of the tax credit, and the Victories Square development as a whole will open a lot of doors for Petoskey in the future.
“This is about collaboration, not competition,” says Belinda Bardwell, OEDMI Secretary. “This project is for everybody that lives here. Our goal is to address the needs of the overall community and help make it a better place for all of us.”
— Jessyca Stoepker and Emily Boehm are co-chairs of the Thriving Petoskey Committee.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Thriving Petoskey: Community partnerships help Victories Square housing project move forward
