Large $70M luxury housing development near Grand Rapids opens to first residents
MLive | Brian McVicar | February 21, 2024
WALKER, MI — The first 18 apartments in a high-end, 250-unit housing development at the site of the former Lincoln Country Club property on Lake Michigan Drive NW in Walker have been completed, and residents have begun moving in.
Anthony Rodriguez, senior vice president of Stoneleigh Companies, the Illinois-based firm that’s the building the 250-unit development, known as Savannah at Waterford Village Apartments, said his firm has received temporary certificates of occupancy for three buildings containing the 18 apartments.
“We had two move-ins on Feb. 15 last week,” he said.
The redevelopment of the former country club property has been years in the making.
Stoneleigh, which owns and manages multifamily housing communities in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas, submitted plans to redevelop the 100-acre golf course into housing in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project faced opposition from some neighbors worried about noise, traffic and other changes caused by the development.
But ultimately it moved forward, and construction — including a new road and traffic signal — started on the project in early 2023.
Rodriguez said all 250 apartments, a mixture of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, are expected to be completed by the end of January 2025. Monthly rates will start at $1,900 for a one-bedroom, $2,375 for a two-bedroom and $2,700 for a three-bedroom.
“The traffic has been great over the last month-and-a-half or so when we started pre-leasing,” he said, when asked about what demand he’s seeing for the units. “We’re getting a lot of families and individuals who are looking to list their home for sale and move into our type of unit.”
He said the rental rates have not been a deterrence.
“From any end user, we haven’t got any pushback as far as rental rates,” Rodriguez said.
Savanah at Waterford Village is located along Lake Michigan Drive NW just west of Maynard Ave. NW. Overall, the value of the development, once complete, is expected to be about $70 million.
The units seeks to provide a living experience similar to that of a single-family-home. Units have access to two-car attached garages, as well as private front entry and rear patios, according to a news release. Kitchens boast 13-foot vaulted ceilings, U.S.-made hardwood custom cabinets, quartz countertops, GE stainless steel appliances and more.
Full tile, walk-in showers with frameless glass doors can be found in master bathrooms, with other amenities, such as remote app-based garage openers with exterior keypads, found throughout the apartments, the release said.
The housing development will also include a 5,500-square-foot clubhouse that overlooks natural wetlands, according to a release. Inside the clubhouse, residents can access a fitness studio, resident lounge with catering kitchen, a room with billiards and arcade games, as well as a business tech lounge with work areas.
Rodriguez said the clubhouse will open in March.
Savannah at Waterford Village apartments will also include an outdoor veranda with two fire pits, barbecue grills and seating. Elsewhere in the development, residents will find a dog park, gazebo pavilions, a “zen” garden, a putting green and “extensive” walking paths.
In 2020, when officials were in the conceptual phase of the housing development, officials from Stoneleigh Companies said their plans also included developing 68 lots available for single-family homes and preserving 10 acres along Lake Michigan Drive for commercial office space.
Since then, the property for the single-family-homes has been sold to Koetje Builders, while the commercial property is listed for sale by NAI Wisinski of Western Michigan, Rodriguez said.