Is A Downtown Arena Possibility Now Dead? New Proposal Aims In Different Direction

According to an MLive report, the Kalamazoo County Board has voted to begin negotiations to purchase land with the intention of building a consolidated courthouse complex.The land formerly was the Jim Gilmore auto dealership, and is now a parking lot. The former Otto Kihm Auto Service Center would be a potential parking structure or development.

The significance of this proposal may also be that any remaining possibility of a downtown arena in that location may finally be dead. Over the years, especially after specific parcels of land were cleared in that area, there had been talk of a proposed arena. Reaction to such a proposal was mixed, it would be fair to say. An arena being home to possibly Western basketball and hockey and maybe even the K-Wings had some support, but because of overlapping schedules, it was difficult to see how a shared facility was going to work.

While an arena could possibly still fit into that general area, parking to accomodate that many cars would still be a problem.