Residential

Orchard Grove & Orchard Manor

Type: Residential
Location: Flint & Flint Township, MI
Year: 2026
Status: Completed

Overview

Seventy-four new mixed-income homes on Flushing Road for Communities First, Inc. Two buildings, two municipalities and one campus, including ten homes for veterans who have experienced homelessness.

The Project

Orchard Grove and Orchard Manor add 74 mixed-income apartments to the 2700 block of Flushing Road on Flint’s west side. Communities First, Inc. led the development. Ten of the homes are dedicated to veterans who have experienced homelessness, and the campus includes roughly 10,000 square feet of community space.

Two Municipalities, One Campus

Orchard Grove sits in Flint Township. Orchard Manor sits across the line in the City of Flint. One development meant two planning approvals, two permitting processes and two sets of officials, and the order of those steps mattered. A misstep in either jurisdiction would have broken the financing. We worked both approval tracks in step, so the schedule held and the project penciled.

The Buildings

Both buildings rise four stories. A masonry base meets the sidewalk, and lighter cladding sits above it. Private balconies give each apartment a piece of the outdoors, and the entries gather around landscaped courts rather than facing a parking lot. The goal was housing that reads as a permanent part of the neighborhood, not as a subsidized project dropped onto it.

Partners

The $25 million development was assembled from public and private sources. Partners named on the project board include the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Flint, the Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission, The Home Depot Foundation and Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust.

Outcome

The project broke ground on April 9, 2024. The two buildings were built together as one project: Orchard Grove was completed in December 2025 and Orchard Manor in early 2026, and they opened together at a ribbon cutting on April 24, 2026. With the 33-unit Orchard Lane rehabilitation, our work with Communities First now totals 107 homes.

Why It Matters

Generations of disinvestment left much of Flint’s housing deteriorated or abandoned. Orchard Grove and Orchard Manor answer that with dignified, well-built homes close to the services that keep families stable. The architect’s role did not end at the ribbon cutting. It continues as long-term stewardship inside a team of owner, contractor and residents.

Photography