After more than two years in the planning, August marked the start of Habitat for Humanity’s Maple City Crossings development, with the team from Kal Excavating now preparing the two-acre parcel as a homesite. The development is at the corner of Maple Street and Western Avenue — where a Dollar General had once been proposed — is and walkable to all Maple City amenities. Thomas Kachadurian, communications and marketing manager for Habitat for Humanity - Grand Traverse Region (Habitat GTR) shares that the development will provide permanent housing for six families in three buildings. The individual residences will share only an outside garage wall in a townhouse configuration.

Habitat GTR is building the affordable/workforce homes in Maple City in a partnership with the Leelanau County Land Bank Authority. In 2022, after Maple City Crossings is complete, Habitat GTR will begin building 14 homes with partner New Waves Church near the corner of M-72 and Bugai Road. 

For the six Maple City homes, says Kachadurian, “We have two potential candidates, but they are not yet firm. We have other applications in the pipeline, but we are still looking for future homeowners for 2022 at this point.”

He notes that COVID created a wave of people selling their homes in other states and choosing the Grand Traverse Area to relocate, and in addition, inventory of available homes has shrunk to the lowest levels ever.

“These home buyers bring cash, often enough to buy a home without a mortgage. They are paying $50,000 or more over listing prices. In turn, our area home prices have skyrocketed as much as 20 percent in just a year, making even modest homes unattainable for families that live and work here.”

He adds that historically, Habitat GTR has built an average of three homes a year. “Due to the critical need for housing in northern Michigan, we created a strategic plan with our Board of Directors to increase our annual home builds to ten by 2024.”