Mount Pleasant’s Mill Street Landing: 50 affordable downtown apartments clear City Hall and now wait on a state tax-credit decision

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — A 50-apartment affordable housing project planned near downtown Mount Pleasant has cleared City Hall and now depends on a competitive state tax-credit award that local officials hope to hear about early next year, according to city records and reporting by Central Michigan Life.

The project, called Mill Street Landing, would go on about 0.83 acres at 410 Mill St. and 200 Walnut St., near the corner of Mill and Walnut, according to the city’s request for proposals. The City Commission later added 208 Walnut St. to the site. Plans call for 30 one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments in three buildings, with 50 parking spaces and shared spaces such as a lobby, Central Michigan Life reported Oct. 26.

What the city approved. On Sept. 14, the commission selected Spire Development of Columbus, Ohio, to build the project with the Mount Pleasant Housing Commission, according to a Citizen Portal summary of that meeting. On Sept. 28, it approved PILOT Ordinance 1092, extended the date by which construction can begin and added the third address, Central Michigan Life reported.

PILOT stands for payment in lieu of taxes. Under the deal, the owner pays a reduced annual service charge in place of regular property taxes in exchange for keeping rents affordable. City staff said the developer needed the extension to resubmit a competitive 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit application to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority by Oct. 1, the Citizen Portal summary said.

Who it’s for. The city’s request for proposals, issued in July, sought “general occupancy, workforce affordable housing” for households earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income. Rent would be set by household income, and the apartments would be open to anyone who qualifies, including families and college students, Manuela Powidayko, the city’s director of planning and community development, told Central Michigan Life.

Why the city wants it. Powidayko said more than half of Mount Pleasant residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Census figures cited by the student newspaper put the city’s poverty rate at 31.4% and its median household income at $44,706, compared with $72,875 for Michigan. The city has two other affordable complexes, Riverview Apartments and the Pheasant Run duplexes, built in the 1970s and 1980s.

The site. According to the request for proposals, 410 Mill St. was owned by McGuire Family Investments LLC and the two Walnut Street lots by David and Laura McGuire, who partnered with the city to find a developer. The land is zoned for the city’s downtown urban center district. Powidayko told Central Michigan Life the central location was chosen in part because the state’s scoring system for tax credits gives more points to sites close to downtown.

What comes next. Because it is classified as urban, the project competes against other urban centers across the state. “It is a very competitive process,” Powidayko told Central Michigan Life, adding that the city hopes to hear back in January or the first quarter of 2027. If the credits are awarded, construction likely won’t start until 2028. The July request said the city was also open to an April 1, 2027, application round if needed.

Sources:
Central Michigan Life, Samuel Belill, “New affordable housing coming to Mount Pleasant,” Oct. 26, 2026 (unit mix, developer, Sept. 28 actions, Powidayko and Perschbacher comments, census figures, timeline), https://www.cm-life.com/article/2026/10/d-affordablehousing-news-10162026
City of Mount Pleasant, Request for Proposals for Development Partner, 410 Mill Street and 200 Walnut Street, July 10, 2026 (site size, owners, zoning, 30% to 80% AMI target, MSHDA rounds), https://cms2.revize.com/revize/mtpleasant/Mount_Pleasant_RFP_Development_Partner_signed.pdf?t=202607101435560
City of Mount Pleasant, Development and Redevelopment Opportunities, https://www.mt-pleasant.org/departments/economic_development/development___redevelopment_opportunities.php
Citizen Portal, “City selects Spire for Mill Street Landing and sets public hearing on pilot extension,” Sept. 15, 2026, https://citizenportal.ai/articles/10021966/michigan/isabella-county/mount-pleasant/city-selects-spire-for-mill-street-landing-and-sets-public-hearing-on-pilot-extension
Photo: Magicpiano, “MountPleasantMI HistoricDistrict2.jpg,” July 26, 2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MountPleasantMI_HistoricDistrict2.jpg

Mount Pleasant

Tags: Mount Pleasant · Affordable Housing · Mill Street Landing · MSHDA · Tax Credits · Isabella County