Two Portage projects called 'game changers' by city officials

Holladay Properties, the developer of the near-capacity AmeriPlex at the Port business park, will go before city officials Tuesday to finalize the 15-acre Promenade at Founders Square, a $50 million collection of homes and shops planned for the city's north east side.

The company is expected to roll out its plans to the public soon.

The Promenade will draw young families and give the city a major image and economic development boost, said Mayor James Snyder. The development will be less than a half-mile east of City Hall.

"It shows the level that we've raised the community to and the quality of life and everything that goes on around it in the next two to three years is going to be something amazing to see," said Snyder.

Ideas like the Promenade are built on the work of his predecessors and decades of preparing for growth, Snyder said. The city has been buying properties east of the City Hall for decades, making land available for development.

"It's our job to show (residents) results with the hard earned dollars they give us," Snyder said.

The plat for the development was approved earlier this year. A Holladay Properties spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday, but the company will pitch more details of its plan to the city's Development and Review Committee Tuesday afternoon.

It'll go before the Plan Commission in June, and work could start later this year.

"This is a game changer," said City Engineer John Hannon. "It's going to be the new downtown. It's the most exciting thing going on in Portage.

Plans and photos of the Promenade project, which will build north of the new police and fire stations and the new splash pad near the water tower, show three-story condominium-like structures with mom-and-pop retail shops on the corners.

"We need to make sure we're taking the 25-year-old to 45-year-old population and increasing it in our community," Snyder said. "That helps our schools. That helps our businesses. That helps everybody."

The Central Avenue East project -- from Hamstrom Road half a mile east to the Toll Road bridge -- is $6 million infrastructure upgrade of one of the city's main thoroughfares. It will include widening Central Avenue, installing sidewalks and curbs, storm sewers, a new bridge over Robbins Bridge and intersection improvements.

It's the kind of investment that made significant growth possible in other parts of the city, including the retail explosion along Ridge Road and on the north side, said City Engineer John Hannon.

"The reason for Portage's growth is because the infrastructure was put in," Hannon said. "It's because of those improvements you see what's going on now with private investment."

The Central Ave. East project may start with acquiring more rights of way and relocation of utility lines and infrastructure later this year, and the entire project should be completed by late 2018, Hannon said.

Now, especially in the mid-afternoons, traffic at the Central Avenue and Railroad Road intersection can back up nearly the half-mile to Hamstrom Road, he said.

Hannon described the Central Avenue project as "increasing the urbanization" of the street. That may not mean bringing in tons of new businesses, but it will mean a better, safer environment along the stretch, he said.

"We're not doing any rezoning over there," Hannon said, but it will be better for pedestrians "and, from a technical perspective, the bridge over Robbins Ditch is old and has to be replaced."

Federal funds will pay for 80 percent of the Central Avenue improvements, with the city kicking in 20 percent. Portage's portion will come from a $10 million bond issued by the city's utilities board earlier this year.

Other projects to be covered by that bond include expansion of the city's wastewater treatment plant, sewer work and expansion of the compost site, Hannon said.