200 Flint families vying for 54 spots inside new Coolidge Park Apartments

FLINT, Michigan—A new apartment complex in Flint already is seeing a flood of applications from people who want to live at the transformed former elementary schools. 

Coolidge Park Apartments celebrated its ribbon cutting on Monday — and said it already had received 200 applications from families who want to live in the complex just south of McLaren Hospital on Ballenger Highway. 

The $16.5 million project includes 45 mixed-income affordable rental apartments, nine market rate rental units, and nearly 10,000 square feet of commercial space that’s expected to create 12 permanent jobs.

“Offering affordable housing within this project as much as possible was important to allow more people — people from the neighborhood — to be a part of the revitalization of Flint.” said Glenn Wilson, president and CEO of Communities First Inc., the nonprofit responsible for the development.

Wilson said tenants will begin moving into Coolidge Park Apartments as early as October. 

The project rehabilitated the former Coolidge Elementary School, which closed in 2011, and added a four-story apartment complex on the property. 

Inside the development, residents will find some of the school’s original artwork is preserved — as are some of the lockers. The gymnasium also has been turned into a community center to host activities starting next year. 

Wilson credits at least part of the immediate popularity of Coolidge Park Apartments to it being one of the first big developments in Flint outside of downtown. 

“Coolidge was an anchor in the community. I went there myself and this is a way to not only preserve the building but preserve the memories,” Wilson said.