Affordable housing is an issue across the U.S., and especially in areas like South Florida and Michigan. Danto Builders is currently building an affordable housing project, called NoMi Lofts and is excited to be developing, designing and building a 200-unit residential building in Michigan, where Danto Builders began as a company.
Here’s the story of Craig’s family history in construction: how Danto Builders started and how these roots led to this timely housing project for working families in Michigan.
Where it all started – city zoning, planning and underground infrastructure
It started back in the early1960s, when the city of Flint, Michigan was mostly cow pastures and undeveloped land. There was no infrastructure in the community: no water, electric, or gas. In order to build housing in the area, infrastructure had to be built. The first infrastructure that was needed was a lift station, designed to move the waste water out of the area, once buildings were built.
This is when Craig’s father, Chuck Danto, started Danto Builders, along with a business partner, Paul Bolanowski, in Michigan. At that time, the city of Flint gave Danto Builders the opportunity to develop an open lot of land, with the condition that they first put in a lift station. After that, they developed residential, commercial and public properties.
What is a lift station – and what does it mean for land development?
A lift station is a place where waste and gray water is pumped from one location to another efficiently. Because the lot of land that was given to Danto Builders was untouched, it had no sewer system. This meant Danto Builders had to create the entire underground pipe system so that water in sewer system lines from any building (residential, commercial or public) could be pumped to reach the established system of sewer pipes. All the waste water that goes to a lift station is either pumped to be macerated at a disposal station or pumped to another lift station.
To take advantage of this great opportunity, Chuck and Paul built the lift station. Craig remembers, as a child, the enormous size of the project. A hole was dug 120 feet deep into the ground, almost ¼ mile wide. He watched the progress of the project, which took months, and enjoyed everything from the heavy equipment used to and seeing the crews working on the project.
Developing and managing a multi-family housing development
Because of the successful partnership, the Danto and Bolanowski families went on to develop multiple subsidized, Section 8 HUD multi-family housing projects throughout the Midwest, including Rollingwood Manor, which they still own and manage.).
Over the decades since it was built, there were changes made to HUD requirements for this type of housing. This created a number of challenges with how the building was operated. Over the course of time, these changes meant Rollingwood Manor had to comply to new operational and building requirements.
After Craig’s father passed away, some additional changes occurred which jeopardized its HUD compliance status. His father’s partner, Paul, had also passed away, leaving his great nephew, Ed Bolanowski, as the Bolanowski’s family representative. Working long-distance for three-years, Craig worked with Ed, forming a trusting relationship that allowed them to address all the property issues. After that, the property once again achieved it’s HUD compliance in good standing.
Finding the next multi-family housing project
With that endorsement, Craig and Ed looked around for other possible development properties. And they found a great one, and formed AuSable Developments, LLC to develop AuSable Landings.
This lot is near the local executive airport which, 15 years ago, was a decommissioned Air Force Base (Wurtsmith Airforce Base). In its heyday, it was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) base and home to the 379th bombardment wing and the 920th air refueling squadron. It was also the main hub of manufacturing for the B-52 bombers: they were built there, and a lot of the parts, components, and assembly were also completed there.
When the Air Force base left, the facility was turned into an executive airport with surrounding Opportunity Zones. These Opportunity Zones were created so that businesses would come in, subsidized with grants, to utilize the facility.
Five companies have moved in, bringing their employees with them. But now, because of this growth, there’s a housing shortage for company employees. In fact, the housing shortage is so dire in this area (Oscoda, East Tawas, and Alpina) that there’s a less than 3% vacancy rate in residential housing.
This means there’s a great opportunity for a commercial builder, like Danto Builders, to jump in and provide the much-needed housing for these new companies. With that background, AuSable Developments purchased the land.
200 units of apartment housing – AuSable Landings
AuSable Developments has approval to build 200 units of multi-family housing at AuSable Landings. Their frontage, for the property, leads right into the executive airport, so there are also plans to develop a coffee shop on the out parcel.
Why build a coffee shop? Because it’s needed in the area and it can be done quickly. As Craig explains: “Just like a Checkers restaurant, we pour the slab base and put the utilities in, and a pre-existing build is placed on top. They’ll be open within three weeks!”
Plans are still underway for that development. In the meantime, Craig shares, “We just did a ground breaking in the area and our signs, saying ‘here we come.’ There’s a Veteran’s Memorial on one end of the property, with bronze figure and a monument to the Air Force. We’ll be creating some benches for that memorial, as well as a walking trail around the property, with dog stations, and even fire pits and other areas, so people can enjoy the property.”
Who will live in this multi-unit apartment building?
The building is designed for the employees (and their families) of the growing and new companies that have taken advantage of the Opportunity zone and moved to the Executive Airport location. One great example is Kalitta Air.
Kalitta Air is one of the largest employers in the area, and a leader in the air cargo business. Oscoda acts as the maintenance hub for all of Kalitta’s aircrafts as well as having contracts with multiple manufactures to rebuild jet engines. They have contracts with major aircraft manufacturers to send planes and crews to wherever aircraft engine servicing is needed. They go and get engines from planes around the world, bring them back to Michigan to service or rebuild them, then install them on the planes.
“The need for housing for companies like Kalitta Air is significant, so we’re working on this project as quickly as we can. And the majority of units are already committed to by the local employers before we’ve even broken ground,” says Craig.
What will AuSable Landings look like?
AuSable Developments surveyed local residents to understand what they want to have in the community. Based on these surveys and current trends, AuSable Developments plans to include the following for AuSable Landings.
There will be an entrance and lobby area, and two elevators going up to the four floors of apartment buildings. Off of the first-level lobby area of one of the buildings, there are plans to include a media center with a big-screen TV, conference room, working stations, kitchen area and fitness center. Outdoor amenities are also planned, including fire pits, BBQ and picnic areas, walking path and dog park.
There are also plans for a separate storage area so that people who have bikes can store them safely, without having to bring them up to their units. In this part of Michigan, there are a lot of people who like to be outdoors and do kayaking, snow-mobile, ride bikes and do outdoor activities, so outside storage is a big plus.
Interested in talking to Danto Builders about a large-scale multi-family building or commercial facility? Contact Debbie Danto to talk about it!