ADA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — An apartment complex five years in the making has started moving in residents in Ada.

Village East of Ada is a group of four buildings at 7590 Fulton St. near Thornapple River Drive in the heart of the village. There are 92 units between the four buildings, a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments.

The first building has opened to residents and is already 97% occupied, developers say, and is expected to be fully occupied by the end of the month. The second building is expected to open in mid-October. All buildings are set to be opened and possibly fully occupied by mid-December.

The project started five years ago and was heavily influenced by the village’s “Envision Ada” project, which has transformed the area into a bustling community.

“We’re the only rental community in … downtown Ada,” John Wheeler, the CEO of Wheeler Development Group, said. “So there was a lot of eyes on this project of what it would want to look like, how it would fit into the community.”

He said there was a big emphasis on walkability. A bike path connects the project into the village, and residents are only a two-minute walk from several businesses, including a pharmacy, boutiques and restaurants.

Wheeler said the apartment, like the rest of the redeveloped village, used new construction designed to look old.

“We wanted to mimic that architecture here, so we used a lot of the same color materials down in the village,” he said. “We mixed three- and four-story buildings to give us some roof lines and undulations of how it appears from the road.”

The separate buildings — two three-story buildings and two four-story buildings — was intentional, to keep it from feeling too dense, Wheeler explained. The buildings sit over 82 individual garages.

The developers hope to encourage residents to go out into the community. There’s no amenities that would bring some congregation and could “disrupt the quiet enjoyment of the other tenants,” Wheeler said.

“(We) rely on the community to provide those services to us: the library and the MVP pools and you can join all these different things that will really help, but … we’re here as a housing component, almost like you would have in your own home,” he said. “That’s the way we look at when we develop a project. This is your home.”

Wheeler said he met with Ada leaders on Monday and everyone was “tickled” by the project.

“It just turned out really, really well,” he said. “We had a lot of eyes looking at it before we got our approvals, and it was worth it. It’s one of the nicest projects I’ve ever done.”

Village East of Ada is accepting applications for the second building, which already has several residents set to move in next month. The units are pet-friendly and range from $1,695 to $2,975.