Downtown Kalamazoo sees health benefits from a KVCC, Bronson Healthcare, and Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services partnership.

Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) was expanding its course offerings and wanted to grow its campus to facilitate improvements to the health, mental health, and culinary programs. KVCC’s vision resulted in a new campus in downtown Kalamazoo focused on food sustainability and wellness, with an innovative educational mix of health care and culinary programs. The project has propelled downtown Kalamazoo to be more connected, well–rounded, and healthy overall.

KVCC partnered with Bronson Healthcare and Kalamazoo Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (KCMHSAS) to plan its campus in Downtown Kalamazoo. The three new facilities include a food distributions building, a Culinary Institute and Allied Health building, and a KCMHSAS building. These buildings are now connected to each other by boardwalks and trails.

P&N provided surveying, civil engineering, environmental engineering, and geotechnical engineering for this project. P&N also tackled some floodplain challenges due to the site’s proximity to Portage Creek. The project includes improvements to the Portage Creek ecosystem, a new riverwalk trail to allow people to experience nature, and it will create approximately 100 new jobs.