New potential development could bring big changes to downtown Utica

UTICA — During a City Council meeting in Utica Dec. 12, ideas were discussed in some detail that could bring a whole new look to downtown Utica.

Michael Ivkov, with Host, brought the sweeping redevelopment proposal forward.

“I believe that Utica and its residents desire to have a vibrant downtown, and a lot of concerns have been, at least since I’ve been around, is parking, and I believe that my phase development will remediate that concern as well as connect the historical downtown to Jimmy John’s Field with activity that all residents can participate in similar to Rochester. I believe Utica has a ton of potential,” Ivkov said.

Phase one of his plan would be to move the city’s municipal buildings to “parcel 1,” where the old packing plant once was, near the new dog park off Brownell and Hahn streets.

Next, phase two would be to demolish the current city buildings and Memorial Park and to build a parking deck and retail buildings in their place. He said this would be similar to the Z parking garage in downtown Detroit. Memorial Park would then be moved to “parcel 2,” which is off McClellan Street south of Eppler Junior High School and northeast of Jimmy John’s Field, and possibly “parcel 3,” which is east of Jimmy John’s Field, depending on talks with GS Entertainment.

Phase three would concentrate on building a multifamily development and a boutique hotel with about 140 rooms and retail space on the first floor, a convention center/restaurant, a community space and Memorial Park on parcels two and three.

Then phase four would consist of repurposing the Fire Department to become a brewery and additional residential or retail space. Phase five would cover any remaining work in parcel 1 where the new city buildings would be located.

“This is the early stages of planning. The vision is to relocate the city buildings in the downtown area to another parcel of land owned by the city to make way for the development of a parking structure with first floor retail, luxury apartments and a boutique hotel. We do not have renderings at this time but will be putting together all the plans if the city agrees to move forward,” Ivkov said.

Jimmy John’s Field will remain, but GS Entertainment is not partnering in this development.

The next step for the City Council, if its members are interested, would be for the council to give Ivkov and his partners an exclusive contract for one year to complete due diligence on the properties and obtain a more detailed cost projection. After that period, development could begin.

Charlie Van Camp said he is a commercial real estate broker throughout the state of Michigan, and Ivkov’s cousin, and the partners who would be working on the proposed project are comfortable working with any possible contamination that might come up on the proposed sites.

“This is something we would definitely dig our heals in and really try to come to fruition,” he said.

Mayor Gus Calandrino said there are a lot of moving parts and environmental issues that will need to be talked about as part of the proposal.

All City Council members voted Dec. 12 to postpone any action on the proposal to a future meeting to give city officials time to review the proposal. The proposal was not on the agenda for the council’s January meeting.

Calandrino said he commends Ivkov for his energy and enthusiasm. Ivkov is asking the city to provide him with a period of one year to perform due diligence to properly develop his plans for the project in downtown Utica.

“Any actual approvals from the city would come after the one-year period and would include normal procedures such as reviews and approvals from the Planning Commission and the Building Department. I’m very encouraged about the new excitement to make downtown Utica a destination. In addition to Mr. Ivkov’s proposed plans, there are several other major projects in the planning stages,” he said.