^{Wallick Communities, Bogan Developments and Mno-Bmadsen expect to break ground next week on the 52-unit Lighthouse Ridge affordable housing project in South Haven Township. The design will be similar to this recently completed Wallick project in Marion, Ohio, known as Harding Village. (Fairfield Photography LLC)}

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Kalamazoo developer, tribe move forward with $16.7M lakeshore affordable housing project

A national affordable housing developer that recruited an emerging firm from Kalamazoo and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi’s investment arm is set to break ground on a $16.7 million project near South Haven that will reserve much-needed housing for tribal households.

The three developers — New Albany, Ohio-based Wallick Communities, Kalamazoo-based Bogan Developments LLC and Dowagiac-based Mno-Bmadsen — will start this month on the 52-unit Lighthouse Ridge project after securing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits valued at $1.5 million.

Lighthouse Ridge, which is expected to wrap in early 2028, marks the first affordable housing project for Mno-Bmadsen, whose investments span construction and commercial real estate, professional services, manufacturing and retail.

Julio Martinez, CEO of Mno-Bmadsen, which will be a part owner in the development, said the tribally owned investment arm has long wanted to dive into affordable housing development to address a waiting list of about 100 Pokagon Band households who need places to live.

Co-developing this project also allows Mno-Bmadsen to learn from more experienced partners, he said. Employees of Bodwé Professional Group, a division of Mno-Bmadsen, are providing architectural and engineering services on the project.

“Our architects and engineers will get the experience in doing these LIHTC projects and then likely continue to build their portfolio of doing those things, so it was just an all-around good project,” Martinez said.

The project is located in the tribe’s 10-county service area, and 11 of the 52 units will be reserved for tribal citizens of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.

Bogan Developments CEO Jamauri Bogan, who also is a general partner in the social equity fund Kalamazoo Forward Ventures, said the project is his first opportunity to work outside of Kalamazoo since founding the firm in 2020.

Bogan Developments is also behind the 85-unit workforce housing project B on Burdick that’s a $40 million partnership with Bronson Healthcare Group, which will reserve some of the units for health system employees.

“I think (Lighthouse Ridge) is a really unique partnership with a large, national firm like Wallick,” Bogan said. “We’re a regional emerging firm, and Mno had not done a LIHTC transaction prior. ... It’s just a really cool project ... that will bring forth housing in this region that’s much needed.”

Knowing the market

Lighthouse Ridge will rise on 13 acres of former farmland at 08620 73rd St. in South Haven Township, northeast of the M-43 and I-196 interchange.

The project will provide 40 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom apartments across four buildings, with rents ranging from $637 to $1,480 per month.

The housing will be reserved for households earning between 30% and 80% of Van Buren County’s area median income, which is a range of $28,320 to $75,520 for a family of four, per 2026 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines.

The developers closed on $1.5 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority in mid-August.

Philadelphia-based tax credit syndicator Berkadia leveraged the LIHTC to secure a tax credit investment from Freddie Mac to fund the overall $16.7 million project.

Merchants Capital provided a permanent loan, and South Haven Township contributed a 1% Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement to defray the developers’ tax burden. The developers also have an award application pending with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis.

Graham Welling, senior development manager at Wallick Communities, said this is his firm’s first project in West Michigan since completing the renovation of Falcon Woods Apartments in Holland Township about 10 years ago. More recently, the developer has been wrapping construction on Corners Crossing, a workforce housing project in Blair Township, south of Traverse City.

“There’s a huge demand for housing (in West Michigan), so we’re really wanting to do more work in the area,” he said.

Welling said his firm recruited Bogan Developments and Mno-Bmadsen as co-developers because MSHDA offers LIHTC scoring preference to projects that include emerging developers, like Bogan, as well as tribal entities like Mno-Bmadsen.

Additionally, “when we are working in different markets, we like to partner with people who know that market the best to have relationships with people who can help the project be successful in the long term,” he said.