Canton Township sees boom in residential construction

Residential construction is booming across Canton Township as new houses, condos and apartments are popping up while crews work through a mild Michigan winter.

In 2022, Canton Township’s Planning Division was keeping tabs on 23 different housing projects in the community totaling about 3,500 new homes, condos or apartment units. In some cases, construction is wrapping up after several years in the planning and building phase. In other cases, projects are still under review by the township.

“There’s a lot going on right now,” said Canton Township Community Planner Patrick Sloan. “There’s a strong demand for housing in the area and in Canton specifically. It ebbs and flows each year, but we are one of the faster growing communities in the area.”

One of the largest projects is Filmore Apartments, where 504 units are planned on the west side of Beck Road between Michigan Avenue and Geddes Road. A few of the units have been finished and are now occupied and the 97-acre parcel is crowded with construction crews on any given day.

‘Rigorous’ residential planning process

According to Census data, Canton’s population increased by almost 8,500 people between 2010 and 2020.  Over that same time period, Sloan said, the number of housing units in Canton increased by about 3,300 units, which works out to an increase of about 9.4 percent in both population and housing in the past decade.

“We’ve been growing fast and continuing that rate of growth since 2020,” Sloan said.