joeDowntown

Demolition has begun: https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/demolition-underway-for-acrisure-amphitheater/

Yeah, that part stinks, but also, they can bring in the best shows. So it will be nice to have a busy amphitheater with good performances. Joe

Things are moving quickly at the amphitheater. Demolition equipment is on site, the CAA is working to finalize a deal with Live Nation (largest company booking amphitheater shows), and the hotel tax is on the August ballot. “The Acrisure Amphitheater is set to break ground on May 21, and multinational entertainment company Live Nation is expected to serve as the venue’s principal broker.” I wonder if they’ll push out some preliminary renderings of the aquarium to help push the vote in August? Will be an interesting summer! https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/economic-development/acrisure-amphitheater-groundbreaking-set-for-may-21-live-nation-expected-to-be-venue-broker/ Joe

I’d rather see that lot get developed into commercial/residential, but it would be a good spot. I’d just hate how dead that area would be with loading docks, the museums, etc. it’d make it touristy, but sleepy a lot of the time. The southern end of the market property (mark and wealthy) would be interesting as well. The old water works building on Monroe would be interesting too. Especially if they could incorporate the existing building into the design. Something on the river would seem fitting. Joe

Maybe when the amphitheater is open for business that’d give them more wiggle room to plan upgrades/renovations to the arena (since they could “go dark” for the whole summer if needed). I just hope this lot (and the lot on Ionia) get some love in the somewhat near future. Joe

It’ll work here. Maybe Corewell can pay for it and name it Corewell Park to give their employees “a sense of pride”. Haha. Or maybe they want to buy it, rip out all of the greenery and make it into a linear parking lot? Sorry, they make it too easy. “we’d like to get rid of all of these dilapidated trees.”

I bet they are being hotly pursued by many parties. Walked by the Taikwondo place next to Gin Gin's the other day. It's a tired old building but was pretty cool to see as they had the garage doors open. I think a lot of these buildings days are numbered. Hope they creep some of the gritty brick buildings though. They could be great renovations, but might end up being too small depending on who buys them up (and at what price). There's also a good chance they were bought several years ago as most are owned by very generically owned LLCs. Joe I had seen a very similar rendering to this (w/out the stadium) a while back. It showed similar sizes developments along Seward, the fire station gone, and also had labeled the Stadium tower as "office (medical) / residential". Wonder if they've had an office tenant in mind for a while? Or if this is completely different. Joe

Cool photo of the old Tatum building site posted by McGraw Construction:

Meijer gave $3M to the new children’s rehabilitation hospital. Construction is supposed to start this fall: https://www-woodtv-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/meijer-donates-3m-to-mis-first-kids-rehab-hospital/amp/?amp_js_v=0.1&amp_gsa=1#webview=1&cap=swipe

I’d love to see some liner buildings on that lot Maybe have a few levels of parking with enough height on the first floor for load in load out. I still think that overall, the Van Andel arena looks pretty good. They need to finish up (or cover) the back, and give the inside some new amenities. The back does look like crap though (has since day one). Joe

Agreed. The building looks great but I'm really surprised they didn't build a ramp alongside the building and have the door open on the opposite side. Seems like an inconsequential cost and a bit of a miss on their part. Joe

Yep, that is Blumrich ad Winter. I haven't seen anything indicating that they'll extend Blumrich to Mt. Vernon, but it does seem like it would help alleviate traffic on Bridge Street after games (especially once the Stadium tower is up and 300+ cars are trying to exit the ramp onto Bridge. Joe

City commission unanimously approved zoning ordinance changes. Shockingly, the John Ball neighborhood association opposed it. https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-changes-housing-policy-heres-how-it-impacts-residential-homes

Agreed. There are plenty of good local landlords in GR, plenty that or bad local landlords. I'd think people would be more worried about private equity firms / large REITs buying up buildings/ apartment complexes and setting them on auto pilot than some large firm trying to pick off single familiy homes 1, 2, 10 at a time per city. It doesn't seem like it would scale the way they'd want and would be more hassle (dealing wiht local ordinances, finding local maintenance companies, etc. etc). Is the a trend in other cities in the US? I could maybe see Chicago, NYC, LA, but I think they'd still have a scaling issue if they didn't decide to become a major player in a metro area. Joe

Interesting article about fears of “Wall Street investors” taking advantage of proposed zoning changes. I wonder if most of the fear is coming from Heritage Hill residents? I hadn’t heard this before, but @whitemice’s excellent analysis seems spot on and I liked the comments Turkelson made in the article (do national firms really care about buying one single family home to turn it into 2-3 rentals, or do they focus on larger developments).? https://www-mlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/04/some-fear-housing-changes-will-attract-wall-street-landlords-but-city-says-thats-unlikely.html?outputType=amp&amp_js_v=0.1&amp_gsa=1#webview=1&cap=swipe

Yeah, the balconies on the Leonard side should have some awesome views.

The plans for the CRC church building include a Meijer gas station on the corner of Kalamazoo and 28th, plus "future development" of two commercial sites to the east and a "future concept" for an additional commerical space and residential immediately to the south. Here's the site plan going before the planning commission in May:

Here are the details for the residential building that has been mentioned next to Sun Title: A five-story mixed-use building of residential and retail is proposed. 181 units are proposed – 86 studios of around 400 sq. ft., 91 one-bedrooms ranging from approximately 520 sq. ft to 650 sq. ft., and 4 twobedrooms of approximately 900 sq. ft. All units will be Type A or B accessible. The majority of units will have a balcony or porch. Additional amenities include a 4th floor lounge with city views, gym access at the existing Sun Title offices, and other recreation opportunities within the courtyard. Sustainability features include solar panels, heat pumps, and electric-only utilities. The retail space will be approximately 622 sq. ft. and located off of Leonard Street. While a tenant is still being determined, proposed uses will follow those allowed in the TN-TBA (Traditional Neighborhood – Traditional Business Area). They are looking for a parking exemption (230 spaces required, they want to have 78). Parking would be located on the existing sun title parking lot. 56 bike spaces.

I moved this into its own topic as I'm sure we'll be talking about this project for months/years. This is very exciting, smart, and I believe it's on my list of predictions for 2024 (would love to see CWD convert the Lemon-Wheeler Building on Ionia to housing. It's a beautiful building, seems like it'd have a good footprint, and it seems like its been underutilized (I used to work on the upper floor and it definitely wasn't 100% occupied). For CWD, this seems like such a logical move as they have the ability to offer clients many options for new space, and concentrate office space into existing buildings while potentially rethinking other building uses. A Mixed use building (5/3 will remain with the top 7 floors being converted to residential) will make this area more active 24/7. I just wish they could have converted the WHOLE building and moved 5/3 to another office building downtown. Construction should start this fall. I'm excited for this one! Joe

Nice revitalization project of an old building in Greenville. I've always liked Greenville's downtown. A lot of beautiful Italianate architecture: https://www.woodtv.com/news/montcalm-county/new-life-apartments-added-to-historic-greenville-building/ Joe

Nice article and photos of the Ada Hotel. Getting close to completion. Looks really nice. On the upper end of the $$$ range. https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/sneak-peek-inside-the-not-quite-ready-ada-hotel/

DDA gave the new putt putt golf bat on Ionia a $49,000 retail innovation grant. Looks like they will open end of summer: https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/04/putt-putt-bar-coming-downtown-gets-49k-from-grand-rapids-board.html

DDA is phasing out on street dining (in the next month; at the very least, why didn't they wait until winter?) and businesses will have to apply for the "parklet" program. I This seems short-sighted at a time that restaurants downtown seem to be churning a bit: https://www.woodtv.com/news-from-our-partners-at-crains-grand-rapids-business/ Joe

There is a change.org petition from StrongtownGR in support of the proposed zoning changes. In case anyone wants to add their name. https://www.change.org/p/support-zoning-ordinance-reforms?recruiter=74427404&recruited_by_id=d08f19ae-ba9f-43e3-9280-02d0d9811e89&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard_share_modal&utm_medium=copylink

Thought this was a very interesting project. Nice new green space (instead of a parking lot). Definitely will increase the “curb appeal” on this section of 196: https://www-mlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/04/whats-under-construction-near-i-196-kent-county-parks-has-big-plans.html?outputType=amp&amp_js_v=0.1&amp_gsa=1#webview=1&cap=swipe