PR-15

You watch...a year or two from now RDV Corp will announce some major riverfront development for the Market surface lot. Secchia won't do anything with that "clunky little building" by himself. He'll just sell that building/lot for about $5-8 million to Rockford (or someone else) and make a huge profit for just holding the property for a couple of years. "Buy low, sell high...have friends in high places."

Make no mistake, Secchia can well afford $10 million, his stock alone in UFP is probably worth hundreds of millions. SIBSCO does this kind of stuff all the time (buying property and selling it to someone who will actually do something with it a short time later). He's sold several buildings to Rockford Development Corp. in Cherry St. Landing, and also sold property to DeVos interests in Cherry St. Landing as well. He never owns the properites for very long...the timing was/is always very curious to me. He's able to accutely pick up low value properties just prior to something big happening with RDC or RDV...no coincidence he calls all those guys his buddies.

Well, GRDad...this is extremely intersting indeed. Would it suprise anyone if SIBSCO (Secchia's real estate dev. company) owned the parcel and sold it to MSU for $15.7 million? In theory he could have donated $10 million from the proceeds and still made a hefty profit for himself PLUS got naming rights to the building. I might be mistaken but I believe SIBSCO used to own the Olds Manor building before he sold it to the DeVos family...so he's not unfamiliar to speculating along Michigan Street.

I'm happy to meet up anytime. My schedule is a little nuts but will do everything I can to make a date/time stick.

JoeDowntown/GRDad, It's not unprecedented. The DDA gave $50,000 to River Bank Books That investment lasted 10 months. But I have mixed feelings about perceived "subsidies" to retailers. Which businesses do you choose to support? What about longstanding businesses that have struggled and survived on the thinnest of margins (and losses)? What if a longtime current retailer wants to expand? Do you give them an incentive too? I'm all for developer tax credits, brownfield credits, ren zones, etc. It's been very successful. But what happens after that? The developers need to have imagination and action plan to draw the right retailers. Frankly, most of the issues with empty storefronts aren't with the newer developments/revitalization efforts. I'm overgeneralizing here but the chronically stagnant storefronts tend to be with the landlords that have owned the buildings the longest. Or worse yet, the landlords are absentee in a sense and are represented by some of those unimaginative realtors that represent them. Is it apathy or lack of imagination/motivation? The best developers have a face and a stake in this town and are extremely motivated to create a lifestyle/retail mix that is going to attract millenials to living downtown. Sam Cummings/Second Story, John Green/Elevation Group, Eric Weinsma/Terra Firma, Brice from Virgin Soil...they are the innovators. You bump into them all the time downtown, they're engaged. Also, did you notice what age group these guys are in? Not really a coincidence, me thinks. But I can guarantee if I see a Grubb/Ellis or Hinman Company "For Lease" sign up in a storefront window...it's probably gonna say "For Lease" in that window for a very, very long time. There's a disconnect with ownership/motivation. Regarding the DA/City attitude of protecting existing businesses from competition...that's a serious cancer on retail progress. They seem to get that we need a big mix of bars/restaurants/entertainment. But not lots of different clothing/bookstores/jewelers, etc, etc???? Downtown is a pool where everyone with a vision should be able to dip a toe in...the water should be fine. If the water is a little funky around here it's because the kiddie pool is lukewarm and stagnant.

Agreed. I'm kicking myself I wasn't at this now infamous meeting. I would add one thing, good developers find a way to make stuff happen NOW...they get creative. Mediocre ones tend to sit on empty buildings/storefronts while they wait for others (the City or some other entity) to create just the right conditions before they'll pull the trigger. JoeDowntown suggested there was apathy within gov't or the DA or whoever...but there's plenty of developer/landlord apathy as well.

The DA has been "aggressive" outside of it's main goal of DID beautification. To my knowledge, the DA has recently executed the following efforts to elevate the profile of downtown GR. I'm not saying the tactics are perfect, okay JoeDowntown ? 1. It has paid for and created the web site www.downtowngr.org (no small undertaking regardless of the skeletal god awful background that makes me want to puke). 2. It has paid for the "Let's Go" campaign that is currently advertised on Rapid buses (formerly KIAS). 3. The DA has paid for a new walking map of downtown that highlights restaurants, retailers, bars and parking structures within the DID...it also is branded "Let's Go." 4. It has paid significant dollars to help make the Grand Rapids/Tim Allen/Pure Michigan radio spot a realilty that also uses "Let's Go" within the script. 5. It annually hangs and pays for the Christmas decorations and lights that hang along Monroe Center. 6. It partially funds an inebriate center at Mel Trotter that helps to care for and keep chronically intoxicated people from sleeping it off on our downtown streets, storefronts and sidewalks. There are probably a lot more things I'm missing...that's off the top of my head. Again, argue tactics all you want and I'll agree with you much of the time..but the DA has stepped up and taken a big swing. I agree with everything that JoeDowntown posted. Passion like his will collectively move this city to great new heights. Unfortunately I was not at the meeting with the DA that upset so many UPers. I share your frustration. This forum is full of bright people with sound ideas and passion. GRDad, realtors and property owners share some responsibility in this as well. What are they doing to aggressively market empty spaces? What is their plan and vision for downtown retail? How are they going to execute their vision? They control the empty storefronts and lose revenue every month they stay empty...not the DA, DDA or CAA. I hardly believe there is a landlord in this town that wouldn't rent prime retail space to a Coldstone Creamery just because Four Friends sells gelato...or that Coach is not welcome because we have a Groskopfs...or that Prada or Saks can't locate here because we have Boutique Emanuel in the Amway Grand. But there seems to be some impression that this is the case. I say hogwash...developers and building owners need cash and tenants bring cash. They can't afford to keep out viable tenants. Last I checked we have a Starbucks, Beaners and Four Friends all within about 30 yards of each other all selling the same products/experience. To a layman like me, all of them seem to be doing quite well. I would argue that Four Friends is largely full. I go there 3-4 times a week and am overjoyed that they seem to be thriving with big corporate competitors right in their face. Let that be a lesson for anyone who thinks competition is bad or supports some crazy belief that downtown can't handle a mix of tenants competing in similar products/services. The Cherry/Lake/Diamond success that you speak about is largly due to motivated and creative landlords. Guy Bazzani works a niche like nobody's business and it's been great for East Hills. But I wonder how many knick knack shops like Mena Imports, Global Infusion, Art Beat and Yours Truly will be thriving 2-3 years from now. I wish them all the best but it's going to be a tough go. (For the record, I don't believe Bazzani rents to any of the stores I just mentioned.) Lastly, downtown GR is plagued by building squatters waiting for a huge payday from their dilapitated buildings that they won't sink a dime into improving them or downtown in the process. They don't even want tenants...they want to hold a building hostage until they get an unrealistic price. The refuse to engage in imaginative thought regarding their assets. May they all rot like their buildings...end rant.

The KIAS campaign was not necessarily "charged' to the DA. Orginally, the DA just wanted to create a comprehensive web site/resource for what to do downtown and help promote the DID assessment area via a web site. During that time frame of exploring the possibility of creating a new web site, it was also discussed how badly Grand Rapids lacks an identity within the region and that a marketing campaign for downtown would be helpful for retailers within the DID. The result was a web site/branding/marketing initiative . The DA took it upon itself to go to the DDA to secure funds to execute both projects and here we sit. FWIW...KIAS has evolved into the "Let's Go" campaign which I think is a major improvement from KIAS. There is always a fair share of arm chair QBing with these kinds of things. It comes with the territory. But the DA has at least been aggressive in trying to elevate the profile of the DID and it's current retailers. It's understandable that the tactics employed are not perceived as a home run and 100% concensus is never possible. I would say that the DA may have ventured a little far from their original mission of beautification and that there will never be one organization with a "silver bullet" to solve the problems facing DT GR. I sincerely hope that other entities (both public and private) also step up to the plate and take as big a swing as the DA has...the DA has taken some lumps in the process and justifiably so...but we can all do more.

It's as if Delores has been in GR listening to every single issue we face here...fascinating read. I would add that the DA probably spends 80-90% of it's budget on it's primary purpose which is the beautification of the DID, planting flowers, rubbish removal and sweeping the streets. They get all A's on my scorecard in regard to those efforts. One would be hard-pressed to find a cleaner downtown district anywhere in the country. However, addressing the wish lists culled from meetings with downtown merchants within the DID requires money...and gads of it at that. The DA will need to find extensive new revenue streams to potently employ any strategy in regard to retail recruitment and sustainable marketing efforts that promote downtown. It will be impossible to get traction in any direction without targeted and purposeful funding.

The Louis Benton owner who passed away was an original co-founder of Sierra Room. She eventually left SR...started LB...but was not a relative of the Gil family who continued to operate Sierra Room.