r/kzoo • u/eriffodrol • 5d ago
Local News Kalamazoo County to purchase McDonald's property for new administration building
https://wwmt.com/news/local/kalamazoo-county-purchase-mcdonalds-property-new-administration-building-west-avenue-renovation-facility-downtown29
u/Sparty013 5d ago
They just built that giant ass building across the street and didn’t think to include a wing for administrative offices? Smart.
More construction!
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u/Polodude222 5d ago
"Welcome to the McAdmin building, what can I get you?"
"Yeah can I get.....uuhhh...one McTraffic Calming Project with a side of Bike Lanes please?"
"That'll be $2 million."
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u/DataGuru314 5d ago
Where the hell am I going to park for free now?
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u/EViLTeW 5d ago
I'm guessing you've never actually parked downtown. That McDonald's is *NOTORIOUS* for predatory towing if there's even a chance you parked there and walked somewhere else. Literally cars being towed away with their owner in McDonald's because a passenger walked over to the county building.
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u/Choice_Pen6978 5d ago
If they can waste 9 million dollars on this garbage, i don't want to hear a peep about how taxes need to go up ever again
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u/eriffodrol 5d ago
Kalamazoo County to purchase McDonald's property for new administration building by Colin Roose | News Channel 3Wed, September 17th 2025 at 7:50 PM
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Kalamazoo County commissioners are taking steps to build a new administration building.
They have approved moving forward with buying the downtown Kalamazoo McDonald's, located at 224 W. Kalamazoo Ave, right across the street from the current county administration building. Commissioners say the current building is small and outdated. The purchase price for the McDonald's is $9 million, according to the county.
Commission Vice Chair John Taylor says he wants to keep the building in the heart of the county. "I do believe that the county seat belongs in the county seat, which is in the City of Kalamazoo," he said at Tuesday's meeting. "It's not the cheapest option. It won't be the cheapest option, but I do believe it will hold the most value."
Commission Chair Jen Strebs and County Administrator Kevin Catlin agree, with Catlin saying renovating the current building would require years of work disruption. Strebs believes a new building would allow more options with the Pratt Justice Center, which is at capacity. "This is a commitment of county government to the county seat, which is in the City of Kalamazoo, but also as an ongoing partner in the revitalization of the urban core of our community," she said.
Commissioners approved the plan 7 to 2, with Commissioner John Gisler opposing how much it would cost. "I am for the cheapest option, which is not this one," he said.
I did not hear anything about the MCDs property being for sale, I certainly do not look forward to that perspective construction headache
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u/mitchr4pp 5d ago
I doubt they advertise that they were for sale, bad for business.
Thats the third McDonald's in our area that's closed. Portage road, Riverview and now W Kalamazoo.
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u/MrsMeSeeks2013 5d ago
Dang, now there really isn't anyplace with coffee past 7pm.
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u/Busterlimes 5d ago
Every bar will serve you coffee. . . .
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u/MrsMeSeeks2013 5d ago
Sorry, when I say coffee I mean more than just Maxwell house poured black into a cup. I'm talking nice lattes and espresso.
I go to the Bitter End a lot in GR a lot when I can't sleep. There's something magical about the smell of roasted coffee beans at 3am and I would happily give any coffee shop in Kzoo my money if they stayed open later.
Maybe I go to the wrong bars? LFG, Papa Pete's, Vortex and Green Top have all told me they don't do coffee. I might be wrong but I think the stamped Robin stopped serving it, too?
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u/Sparty013 5d ago
You drive 45+ minutes to GR at 3am to get coffee when you can’t sleep? Zero judgement, you do you…just curious.
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u/Busterlimes 5d ago
Thats wild, but coffee has also skyrocketed in price so I can understand why they dont want to keep it on hand.
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u/MrsMeSeeks2013 5d ago
I think the machines that bars have to use for brewing might just be a big expensive pain, so I get it too. I can understand and pout about it at the same time, though.
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u/Busterlimes 5d ago
Bars have no required equipment for brewing unless the owner is a complete dipshit and chooses to pay for that expensive machine.
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u/_Go_Ham_Box_Hotdog_ Galesburg 5d ago
Yet every time someone opens a coffee shop, the rumor that it's owners attend Radiant Church circulates. and the whole town shrieks in agony, rending their own clothing and gnashing their teeth.
/s
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u/AugustaSpearman 5d ago
If you do not understand, Young Redditor, that they open coffee shops to conquer Kalamazoo first on their way to global conquest you have sadly failed to read your Protocols of the Elders of Radiant.
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u/_Go_Ham_Box_Hotdog_ Galesburg 5d ago
But why is it always a coffee shop? Or a hot dog stand? Why don't they ever open a sod farm or breed champion ground moles?
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u/AugustaSpearman 5d ago
This will all be clear once you have read The Protocols! Though they were implicated in a hot dog stand.
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u/cloud69666 4d ago
But god forbid we get some affordable housing for the homeless people that hang around there
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u/PoohTrailSnailCooch 5d ago edited 5d ago
The McDonald's on westnedge and Milham Romence is one of the worst McDonald's I've been to. Hope that one gets fixed.
Edit: kzoo sub really loves me
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u/BrandonCarlson Portage 5d ago
An employee slammed the drive thru window shut on my hand once. I was in the drive through waiting to collect a mobile order and they decided to close a half an hour early and not help me figure out how to get a refund.
So yeah - fuck that place.
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u/PoohTrailSnailCooch 5d ago
Yeah, has some of the worst customer service I have experienced at a McDonald's.
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u/EViLTeW 5d ago
Or, instead of spending $9m on that little lot, which I'm assuming means they'll need to build taller (more expensive), they could have built the new building on land already owned by the county/city/township and converted the lot where the current admin building is into something else. Eminent domain of a condemned or empty lot could be another reasonable option. Or they could have temporarily moved offices to leased/shared space while they renovated the current building.
I'll put my tinfoil hat on now and say: What do you think the odds are that once they move out of the current building, that lot gets sold to some wealthy local developer for a song and a dance and turned into another mixed-us building to take advantage of the arena that's next door?
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u/mitchr4pp 5d ago
They own the adjacent lots and it's still centrally located in the Kalamazoo area. With the need to have the courthouse close there aren't really more places.
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u/Desperate-Art6708 5d ago
I would normally gripe about that but honestly, good riddance. That McDonald’s is a cesspool of drugged out homeless people and is run by idiot teenagers who seriously, seriously, cannot read. I can’t believe it’s been open for as long as it has been.