KALAMAZOO, MI - A 15-story building at the center of downtown Kalamazoo that has been in the works for over five years got a boost from the state Tuesday with approval of a $6.4 million loan.

The Exchange Building is planned on what is now a parking lot at the southeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Rose Street, across from the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites.

The 335,674-square-foot building will include commercial, retail and residential uses, with a bank as the anchor tenant, apartments on the upper floors and parking integrated into five floors, according to a memo to the Michigan Strategic Fund Board. The board, part of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., approved the loan and took other action to move the project forward during a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 20 in Lansing.

The size and price-tag of project have grown considerably since it was first announced in early 2011. When brownfield tax incentives were first approved by the MEDC later that year, The Exchange Building was to be eight stories with mixed uses including commercial space and 50 apartments, valued at $28 million, according to a memo to the Michigan Strategic Fund Board. As of this spring, it was a $35-million project and a 12-story structure, including commercial space, covered parking and 140 apartments. Plans now are for 15 floors, with commercial space, 133 apartments, and parking integrated into five floors, in a project valued at $52.7 million.

Phoenix Properties, LLC and PlazaCorp Realty Advisors, Inc. are partnering on the project.

-- The Exchange building, according to the MEDC memo, will include:

-- A ground level primarily occupied by a commercial bank, with additional lease spaces for retail tenants;

-- Approximately 58,720 square feet of leasable retail and office space;

-- 319 parking spaces integrated into the building on the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors;

-- Class A office lease space on a portion of the sixth floor and the entire seventh floor;

-- 133 upscale one- and two-bedroom, market-rate apartments on the eighth through 14th floors;

-- A penthouse for office or retail with a terrace on the 15th floor;

-- Accessible rooftop areas constructed as terraces for tenant use and event space;

Significant changes will be made to the streetscape, including heated sidewalks, lighting, and other features, the memo said.

Most of the project is being privately financed, chiefly through a bank loan, according to a MEDC breakdown.

Along with approving the $6.4 million Michigan Community Revitalization Program loan, the Michigan Strategic Fund Board on Tuesday approved allowing the project to capture $7.7 million in local and school taxes. In addition to the property tax capture through the city of Kalamazoo's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the city's Downtown Development Authority is contributing tax-increment financing funding of $1.3 million and Downtown Kalamazoo Inc. is providing a grant of $150,000 toward the project, according to the MEDC.

The Michigan Strategic Fund Board on Tuesday also approved a request to extend the project completion date three years, to December 13, 2019.