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I'm super impressed with Carvers. The guys from Fish Lads took their time getting it open, but they did it right. All of their sandwiches are great! Their meat is of the absolute highest quality and the pricing is spot on. Worth the trip.

Last night my wife and I were at a gathering with some folks one couple mentioned that they had been to Atwater two times and both were horrendous experiences, missed orders, terrible service, and general chaos. Someone else talked about bad experiences at the Knickerbocker as well. We've not been to Atwater but have tried the Knickerbocker and had good service but bad food. Just goes to show that any new establishment no matter how large or small needs time to settle in...

No, David sold out all of his assets in the bakery, etc to his partner before running for office.

In regard to the questions about Creston Brewery's service, I think we should be a little careful on this forum to complain about such things. This is a brand new establishment started by two couples born and raised in GR who have signed their name on the dotted line to a SIGNIFICANT investment, literally everything they have is on the line with this one, including their homes! This forum is about development in GR. I say critique away about layout, scope, and architectural design of developments. Speculate away about prospective developments in various neighborhoods. But I do not believe this is a restaurant critique forum. Also, unless you have brought your complaint or constructive criticism to the owners I do not think it is fair to complain on this forum. Just sayin...

I am sad to report that Jim Azzar has purchased this building. He had a crew in there cleaning it out. Not sure what his plan is with it, but we can pretty much surmise based on past performance.

This is a build "by right" project, meaning the proposed structure and use fits within the current planning and zoning requirements for this site. Consequently the developer is not required to hold public meetings to get a permit to build. Here is what we know: there is no liquor sales or use license being pulled for this site so it is not a liquor store or restaurant/bar. the developer has said it is a national chain. They also said it is one main tenant with a few smaller commercial bays as well. That is all we know. Along with Organsnyder I am super excited to see this site get redeveloped. I have lived near this intersection for 20 years and have been driving past that old building. That being said, it kind of looks like a Goodwill, like the one on Michigan that went into the old Walgreens. Time will tell. On a side note, I have been saying for 5 years that the near SE side is the last place in the City with large tracts of land or large buildings left to be developed. Watch out everyone because I believe this time is now. Drive down Division between Burton and Franklin and look at the huge tracks of land and large buildings just waiting to be redeveloped. We are working on the South Division area to develop an ASP in order to ensure that what goes into these sites has some level of cohesion and appropriateness for the commercial strip it can and will be.

Here is what I have heard. The couple that owns Eastown Deli, which used to be in the little green building across from the old Pita House on Ethel but is now in the corner spot by Yesterday is opening the new shop. They intend to keep their existing spot open. Don't 100% know the circumstances regarding the owner and the lease of the building but I have been told that the owner did not renew the original Pita House's lease and instead originated a lease to the couple that owns Eastown Deli. The owners of the original Pita House had been at a loss as to where to go when luckily (at least for them) former the Indochine spot opened up and they moved over there. The owners of Eastown Deli put up a sign in the "old Pita House" spot that says something like "Coming Soon - Pita like you have never had before" which is kind of a slap in the face to the original Pita House owners. All in all I believe this has caused some bad blood in this area amongst the business owners. Kind of sad.

That was actually from me. True story. My wife and I know the guy that finally got the contract.

I was in 28th and Kzoo Meijer on a Saturday not too long ago at about 11 AM. There was only 3 cashiers working. The lines were massive. All of the self checkout lanes were also packed. I thought maybe they were trying to push more people to the self check out lanes. Upon further investigation I found out that they literally cannot hire cashiers. They have an immediate need for 15-20 more cashiers. When they do get them and train them, too many times the lose them within months of hiring. I am hearing stories like this all over our area. It's pretty crazy.

I also saw renovations started on the yellow ice cream shop to the left earlier today when I drove past.

Eric, will you be turning into 1 or 2 storefronts? If it is 2, I may have a tenant for you.

I think that earlier in this thread someone said Orion was no longer a part of this development. If this is true, who is building it?

Actually Madison Square Church acquired the former DHS building on the corner of Franklin and Eastern. The church on the corner of Eastern and Wealthy is still owned by the church that worships there now. I know nothing of the wild bunch moving on. Sorry for being cryptic, guess that was not nice. I don't think anything will break until Orion gets their project on Wealthy (the former Mc Donalds), and the development across from Wealthy Bakery kick off. Once that happens we are in for another big wave of new development along Wealthy. Options are being signed and plans are being made.

I know of two more that will break soon and one may shock people.

The Kent County Land Bank had this building donated to us by a local bank that had foreclosed on it. We then sold it to ICCF as they needed to provide a meeting place and community room for their new duplex housing projects recently completed in the neighborhood. A local architect, Kim deStigter came up with the new design. I think it looks incredible. ICCF also has rights to the empty lot to the east of this and is working on redevelopment plans to tie into their corner building. This redevelopment, along with the KCLBA purchasing and demolishing the party store on the adjacent corner, and the soon to be redevelopment of the former DHS building on the NE corner is going to be quite a catalyst for my neighborhood. I encourage folks to drive to the intersection of Hall and Madison and see the incredible work Duthlers is doing on the shopping center and the work LINC has done on this corner. Then drive north and check out the Madison and Franklin corner. We really have two very nice bookends for our stretch of Madison. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we are working on a potential development for the SW corner of Franklin and Madison too.

If I am not mistaken, this is the same developer that built the Bavarian looking apartment complex just east off 196 by Mars Hill Church, He has a thing for castles.

So Jeff-Seeing as how you are in the industry and so am I (somewhat) this data brings to mind several conversations I have been engaged in over the past couple of weeks. We are seeing housing prices rise at a pretty good clip here in Kent County. I am repeatedly being asked, "are we headed for another housing bubble?" My answer has been NO. Or at least not in the foreseeable future. Current underwriting criteria, oversight and regulations regarding appraisals, significant lack of inventory, along with a stable and growing economy (as further evidenced by the unemployment numbers) means we are going to see this last for a bit. Plus I do not see prices going up too high too quick. That being said I know of a house in a SE side neighborhood that one would have NEVER thought would have value get listed a couple weeks ago for $159,800 and by days end the seller accepted an offer for $25K over asking...so there is that...

I guess I am getting tired of the "saturation" argument when it comes to breweries. No one ever says we are over saturating the market when a new restaurant or pizza joint opens up. As was stated previously in this thread, not all of them are trying to be the next Founders.

In regard to several people's comments about over saturation, I offer this: Asheville NC, the city we typically competed with for the title "Beer City USA," has a population of 85,000 and has 12 breweries in the City limits, all are surviving and doing quite well. That's 1 brewery for every 7,000 people. Once all of the breweries in GR that have been announced we will have 13 for 195,000 people. We would need another 14 breweries to catch Asheville.

Let me make my point a little bit finer. My suggestion is that the City begin the process of moving. There is a ton of moving pieces and parts that need to fall in place in order to make this happen, including determining a budget, determining the value of the vacated site, finding a way to pay for the new site and the infrastructure on it, finding a new site or sites to purchase, etc. I believe that if developers see that the City is serious they too will get serious. In fact I would contend that the City does not need to clear the site, whoever purchases it would take that responsibility. Of course the City should never approve a sale of the site that did not include a rather developed site plan, feasibility study, and most important proof of financing. Right now it feels like there is a bit of a stand off, or as the article states a chicken and the egg scenario. I think the City needs to make the first, reasonable and calculated, first move.

In my opinion, I think the City's move from this site is inevitable. I think they should be planning, budgeting, scheduling, and preparing to move now. In doing so, it would signal to the developer/investor world that this site will become available sooner rather than later and allow them to begin making their plans. It is a huge wasted asset to have industrial service buildings along the river so close to downtown when A) these buildings could be put anywhere else within the City limits and B) Downtown is busting at the seams. That being said the MLive trolls will have a hey day with this when it does actually happen.

Just drove past there and they are taking down the vinyl sign on the corner of Michigan and Monroe, the one with the actual photos of the rocks behind it integrated in the sign.

I certainly think this concept would fit well somewhere long the river

There has been a group of us that have wanted to purchase this site for years. Our vision was to put in a commercial kitchen and build in some flexible some flexible space for out door concerts and events. The real kicker to our plan was to develop the site as a food truck park. There are a ton of cities across the US that have really successful models for this. The park would include a partnership with a local micro brewery so beer and wine could be served there and enjoyed while patronizing the food trucks. Alas, we were long on ideas and extremely short on funds...

I know this has been mentioned on more than one occasion but you have Pike's Market in Seattle, Reading Terminal Market in Philly, Lexington Market in Maryland, the Farmer's Market in LA. In Grand Rapids we have "The Downtown Market" Bleh...