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Gaslight Village - East Grand Rapids

GRDadof3

By GRDadof3
in Grand Rapids

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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BigBob,

I was driving my youngest through downtown and what he calls "new downtown" (he's only 2.5) and I was thinking the same thing.

Anyone know what is going on with the Derby? I thought it was filled on day 1. What are they waiting on? Let's build! :)

Joe

Just curious, has anyone here heard of when construction begins on the first residential building? I can't find any info on whether it is sold out yet.
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EGR-ARCHI Whistle-Stop

EGR-ARCHI

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BigBob,

I was driving my youngest through downtown and what he calls "new downtown" (he's only 2.5) and I was thinking the same thing.

Anyone know what is going on with the Derby? I thought it was filled on day 1. What are they waiting on? Let's build! :)

Joe

It may not be the slam dunk that Jade Pig claimed. Do developers ever exaggerate??

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Does anyone know if Jade-Pig put the breaks on the Derby construction, I thought their office said feb. for starting date? I would hope that the construction of the condo's would reassure potential business to move into the new gaslight retail development.

It's probably out of Jade Pig's hands and up to the bank as to when construction starts. They probably have to hit the 50% mark first.

It might be as easy as calling their sales office and seeing how many "purchase agreements" they have.

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  • 3 weeks later...
EGR-ARCHI Whistle-Stop

EGR-ARCHI

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This isn't necessarily a construction update so much as the every changing faces of Gaselight village retail. Kabokies Restuarant is now closed and I heard that the painted Turtle will also be closing soon. Does anyone know what if anything is moving into Kabokies? I saw yesterday that the two space on either side of Judes are getting home decor stores and I was also told that a French Restuarant may be moving into the large corner space (opposite corner of Olga's). Feel free to confirm, deny, or expand on any of the above. I also understand that a section of Wealthy Street that passes thru East will be repaved this summer. This may be touched on in one of the other strings.

Has anyone heard anything about the Condo's??

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suydam Hamlet

suydam

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This isn't necessarily a construction update so much as the every changing faces of Gaselight village retail. Kabokies Restuarant is now closed and I heard that the painted Turtle will also be closing soon. Does anyone know what if anything is moving into Kabokies? I saw yesterday that the two space on either side of Judes are getting home decor stores and I was also told that a French Restuarant may be moving into the large corner space (opposite corner of Olga's). Feel free to confirm, deny, or expand on any of the above. I also understand that a section of Wealthy Street that passes thru East will be repaved this summer. This may be touched on in one of the other strings.

Has anyone heard anything about the Condo's??

Painted Turtle has a "for lease" sign in the window. That is probably source (and likely a confirmation) or the rumor that they're pulling out. That store never made any sense to me to be honest. Their shop in South Haven seemed to fit the "beach tourist" town there....but EGR, despite the nearby lake, is a town of full-year residents. That said, having been in there once, they're clearly not aiming for the 30-something male, father of 2 client

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concretepoem Whistle-Stop

concretepoem

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...Gaslight Village seems to be suffering from exactly what the re-zoning opponents said it would suffer from: Too much retail for too little population...

Agreed. The locals alone can't sustain the number of eateries and boutiques that are there.

Look at the long term tenets, and it's almost all businesses catering to the committee's service-needs or daily consuming items: dry cleaners, banks, a drug store, a UPS store, insurance agents, real estate agencies, and of course, Starbucks.

Build those condos, and maybe you've added enough of a potential customer based where you can support more eateries and a few very specialized, locally-unique retailers. But it's not it's a challenge.

Too bad about Kabookies.

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jwazzz Whistle-Stop

jwazzz

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I will not be shedding any tears over Kabookie's demise - can't believe they lasted this long. It is a prime spot and I hope someone else can make a go of it there - cater to EGR High students and I would think that you would have a gold mine.

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concretepoem Whistle-Stop

concretepoem

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It is a prime spot and I hope someone else can make a go of it there - cater to EGR High students and I would think that you would have a gold mine.

You would think...but EGR Hgh is not 2000 students, it's more like 800, and the whole hanging out at the malt shop vision is just a fantasy of what teenagers do after school these days. They're at home, chatting with each other via MySpace.

The parents are online, too... you've got to wonder what percentage of bricks and morter retail trade has been lost to online/catalog shopping. EGR used to support two nice 'preppy' clothiers, the Bagpiper and the Klothes Kloset, but that was in the days before J Crew and Lands End.

The world's changed. There's just less interest in retail, unless it's discount.

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Khorasaurus Unincorporated Area

Khorasaurus

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I will not be shedding any tears over Kabookie's demise - can't believe they lasted this long. It is a prime spot and I hope someone else can make a go of it there - cater to EGR High students and I would think that you would have a gold mine.

Kabookies tried - I know I was an EGR High School student when it opened. The problem was that the quality of the food was no better than the cafeteria, where kids could eat for "free" or fast food joints like McDonald's or Checkers, which were only a short drive away and were cheaper.

Only freshmen without cars ate there often and they didn't have enough money to support it.

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mpchicago Burg

mpchicago

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At any rate, I'd say right now at least, Gaslight Village seems to be suffering from exactly what the re-zoning opponents said it would suffer from: Too much retail for too little population.

I disagree. Since when is East Grand Rapids its own little island where nobody but people in EGR shop and eat? When I lived in the City of Grand Rapids proper we spent a lot of time in this area. We shopped at D & W, and Jacobson's, we ate at Rose's, Osta's, Big Bobs, The Firehouse and Jersey Junction. My Eye care place, and MD were both in EGR. I ran or walked around Reed's at least once a week. I think there are allot of people on the east side of the city/suburbs that spend time and money in EGR. Heck, we spent time and money everywhere from Rockford, to Holland, to Downtown to Eastown. The Michigan economy may have a little bit to do with the vacancies. I would give it a little time.

What I don't get is the fact that the Derby condos were all "reserved" within a 12 hour period a year ago, but still no shovel turned? Did they have problems with conversions?

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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What I don't get is the fact that the Derby condos were all "reserved" within a 12 hour period a year ago, but still no shovel turned? Did they have problems with conversions?

If I remember correctly, right after that River House, ICON, Fitzgerald and Tall House all hit the market. They're all drawing from the same limited pool of high-rise buyers in Grand Rapids.

If you guys are so curious to know the status, pick up the phone and call the sales office. It will take two minutes to get an answer. Just ask them how many purchase agreements they have and when they anticipate ground-breaking.

http://www.gaslight-village.com/derby/index.html

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mpchicago Burg

mpchicago

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If I remember correctly, right after that River House, ICON, Fitzgerald and Tall House all hit the market. They're all drawing from the same limited pool of high-rise buyers in Grand Rapids.

If you guys are so curious to know the status, pick up the phone and call the sales office.

That sounds like a reasonable answer. Since you are not fretting about this project GRDad, you can skip this response from the agent: :P

"We currently are taking reservations and have not gone to purchase agreements yet. We are anticipating a May start for construction." I'm not holding my breath.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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That sounds like a reasonable answer. Since you are not fretting about this project GRDad, you can skip this response from the agent: :P

"We currently are taking reservations and have not gone to purchase agreements yet. We are anticipating a May start for construction." I'm not holding my breath.

Didn't mean to sound rude MP. I would think this site would be made up more of "activists" than "pacifists". Thanks for checking.

Did the salesperson say not to hold your breath?

The developers themselves said they sold out (reservations) in 20 minutes. They had a grand opening pre-sale event at Breton Village Mall. I can't believe a developer would "stretch the truth" on something like that! :rolleyes:

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bigbobspizza Unincorporated Area

bigbobspizza

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Honestly the amount of retail with the development does seem like over kill. You would think with all the money floating around in East Grand Rapids businesses; would be looking to locate in the area but maybe its just too much retail and not enough consumers to support it.

I think a number of factors are contibuting to the lack of new business coming to Gaslight Village. Probably the most important of these is the high cost of residential real estate here which shouldn't mean that commercial districts are valued equally as high. Unfortunately the majority of property owners want to charge high per square foot rentals along with passing along the high tax rates of EGR.

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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How many units are supposed to be in the Derby? It's what, six floors? And being luxury units there aren't a lot per floor. I could see them selling out quickly if only because there aren't many of them to begin with. I really don't think it would have been so bad to let them go higher with them. Perhaps the building would have been out of scale with the neighborhood, but I think it would be nice to have a little height outside of downtown Grand Rapids. And with such large units it's not like it's a particularly dense project.

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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I think what you'll see with the Derby is a lot of empty nester's IN EGR filling up the spaces. Problem is, the real estate market is mushy-soft right now and it wasn't when they took reservations. People still probably want to move in but would have to unload their current house, which isn't happening quickly or for as much as they'd like.

I am amazed actually by the price of houses in EGR. I looked at houses in EGR about 1.5 years ago and anything below $270K was basically a rundown fixer upper. Looking on GRAR lately, you can find some pretty good old houses for the same range.

Joe

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suydam Hamlet

suydam

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I think what you'll see with the Derby is a lot of empty nester's IN EGR filling up the spaces. Problem is, the real estate market is mushy-soft right now and it wasn't when they took reservations. People still probably want to move in but would have to unload their current house, which isn't happening quickly or for as much as they'd like.

I am amazed actually by the price of houses in EGR. I looked at houses in EGR about 1.5 years ago and anything below $270K was basically a rundown fixer upper. Looking on GRAR lately, you can find some pretty good old houses for the same range.

Joe

I bought a house in EGR 2 years ago.

$270k was not a rundown fixer-upper then, and it's not now either.

Prices have held as steady there as anywhere else.

I should note, that 60% (yes, 60%) of the homes in EGR are valued at $200k and under. That's been the case for quite some time.

It's likely that then when you looked there just wasn't anything for sale in your range.

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