Creston Neighborhood

[arcturus]

On 6/25/2023 at 4:02 PM, RiversideGR said:

Some windows and a balcony….

 

I get excited thinking about how much more lively that stretch of plainfield will feel when these are occupied. It’s been a dead zone for a while. 

Rent from $1600 - $2700/mth.  Is this in the ballpark with other recent developments?  Curious how tough a sell is it these days to lease at these rates. 

[RiversideGR]

55 minutes ago, arcturus said:

Rent from $1600 - $2700/mth.  Is this in the ballpark with other recent developments?  Curious how tough a sell is it these days to lease at these rates. 

IDK how reliable this is but here is some information on average rents in GR: Rental Market Trends & Average Rent in Grand Rapids, MI | Rent.

Also this:

source

[arcturus]

18 hours ago, RiversideGR said:

IDK how reliable this is but here is some information on average rents in GR: Rental Market Trends & Average Rent in Grand Rapids, MI | Rent.

Also this:

source

Eye popping increase in studio and 1-bedroom rates.  Landlords in a post Covid era recapturing income, mixed with surging demand as higher rates mean fewer qualified home buyers and ongoing shortage of homes despite a flat population trend.

It's a perfect storm for apartment owners and current home owners who lease.

[whitemice]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:52 PM, arcturus said:

Rent from $1600 - $2700/mth.  Is this in the ballpark with other recent developments?

Possibly.  Most months I include the zORI (Observed Rent) for Grand Rapids in the Addendum of the Neighborhood Association agenda.  It is currently at $1,694.92/mo.

2023 saw a ~9% increase.

In my neighborhood [ ~1,900 households] there are only 4 units currently listed for rent:

Bedroom	bathroom	Sq/Ft	Rent	Address
2	1	880	$1,695	980 Diamond
2	1.5	850	$1,395	517 Cedar St
1	1	650	$1,075	500 Cedar St
2	1	880	$1,300	603 Emerald Ave

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by whitemice

[Prankster]

If anyone has access to the latest issue of Grand Rapids Magazine, they have a good article about the Creston neighborhood. 

[joeDowntown]

Here’s the article:

https://www.grmag.com/look-feel/experience-1/creston-the-next-eastown/

I don’t think I’d necessarily compare it to eastown. I think Bridge street, with more residential housing mixed in would be a better comparison. I think the future is bright for Creston. 

Joe

[Prankster]

i agree with your comparison. I think they were comparing it to Eastown because they are really trying to sell it as funky. 
 

[whitemice]

5 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

I don’t think I’d necessarily compare it to eastown. I think Bridge street

I took "I’ve heard folks say that Creston will be the next Eastown..." just to mean busy and dynamic - but Creston feels more like EastT to me as it is more low-rise than Bridge St.    Bridge St feels like downtown, Creston feels different, IMO.  The difference between ~3 story buildings (Creston) and ~5 story mixed-use buildings (Bridge St) [where that first floor is a ~1.5 stories].   Also Bridge St sitting in the shadow of the Varnum Tower; it is hard to see downtown from Creston's Plainfield Corridor.

It has been interesting hearing/reading people's response to the comparison to Easttown;  people really keyed in on that sentence.  Just for fun say "It's going to become another Wicker Park".   Bridge St is on its way.   Bridge St is still the only location where I've seen things like a middle aged woman come out of her apartment onto the street in slippers and a bathrobe, get her coffee, and walk back: that is city living.

[RiversideGR]

1 hour ago, whitemice said:

I took "I’ve heard folks say that Creston will be the next Eastown..." just to mean busy and dynamic - but Creston feels more like EastT to me as it is more low-rise than Bridge St.    Bridge St feels like downtown, Creston feels different, IMO.  The difference between ~3 story buildings (Creston) and ~5 story mixed-use buildings (Bridge St) [where that first floor is a ~1.5 stories].   Also Bridge St sitting in the shadow of the Varnum Tower; it is hard to see downtown from Creston's Plainfield Corridor.

It has been interesting hearing/reading people's response to the comparison to Easttown;  people really keyed in on that sentence.  Just for fun say "It's going to become another Wicker Park".   Bridge St is on its way.   Bridge St is still the only location where I've seen things like a middle aged woman come out of her apartment onto the street in slippers and a bathrobe, get her coffee, and walk back: that is city living.

I think one great thing about GR is that each of these areas have their own distinct feel. 
 

It will be interesting to see how Creston evolves with this new surge of development

[joeDowntown]

I agree with everything said. When I saw the reference to eastown, I actually thought they were selling the Creston neighborhood short. I feel like eastown is established / bordering on stagnant and in need of new life. I think Creston will be more like Bridge simply because of the concentration of new apartments and a renewed vitality. Eastown doesn’t have a lot of dense housing right next to/above street level like what’s being built on Plainfield. 

Creston will be exciting to watch in the needy few years. There are still a lot of underutilized old buildings, and some opportunities to reimagine other areas (like the adult bookstore that I don’t really understand how it survives in the internet age). 

Joe

[arcturus]

The area must be improving.  No news of another robbery at Creston Market recently though I suspect the new developments will offer rent concessions from the $2,100/mth median rates, at least for a while.

[joeDowntown]

Are the robberies that occurred at Creston market an issue with the neighborhood, or the fact that it’s on a busy street with an easy escape route? 

I was at the brewery tonight and it looked like the tanks had been pulled and filled in. They were grading the ground and stakes had been marked. Wonder if construction will be starting very soon? 

[sudoclam]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:39 PM, joeDowntown said:

Are the robberies that occurred at Creston market an issue with the neighborhood, or the fact that it’s on a busy street with an easy escape route? 

I was at the brewery tonight and it looked like the tanks had been pulled and filled in. They were grading the ground and stakes had been marked. Wonder if construction will be starting very soon? 

According to GR permits, construction was Anticipated to start on 07/15. Which is in-line with current status. Looking forward to this.

[RiversideGR]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:39 PM, joeDowntown said:

Are the robberies that occurred at Creston market an issue with the neighborhood, or the fact that it’s on a busy street with an easy escape route? 

 

I live in the neighborhood and haven't heard anything but robberies there recently but I wanted to check. I looked at the address on the Grand Rapids Crime map and filtered for Burglaries, Robberies, and Thefts and going back to the beginning of 2023. Only one incident happened within 500 feet of the building and it was a block south. 

I think that business was getting hit a lot in 2019 and 2020 but it seems to have really died down. having a lot of people living on the block instead of abandoned buildings should also be a deterrent. 

[RiversideGR]

Just to ease any concerns that this building was going to look like a big slab of concrete like the Grand Castle, you can see the progress on the (faux) brick outlines and on the left side you can see an example of the exterior finished color. I am very interested to see what goes in to the retail space....

I've also seen some poured concrete for the Quimby/Plainfield apartments but there wasn't much to look at yet so I will spare you the photo.

 

Haven't seen any movement in the flower/wine shop renovation yet, but Kingma's is currently in the middle of their interior building expansion.

[ctpgr34]

There is a "groundbreaking" on Thursday morning for the Quimby project

www.thecurrentgr.com

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by ctpgr34

[RiversideGR]

33 minutes ago, ctpgr34 said:

There is a "groundbreaking" on Thursday morning for the Quimby project

www.thecurrentgr.com

 

oh interesting! I didn't realize that they changed the project name from "Hillcrest Apartments" to "The Current". 

[RiversideGR]

anyone have intel on what is happening at this building at Coit and Dale? The windows are boarded up like they are being replaced and there have been crews working inside...

[Cookin_peacocks]

13 minutes ago, RiversideGR said:

anyone have intel on what is happening at this building at Coit and Dale? The windows are boarded up like they are being replaced and there have been crews working inside...

I don't know, but a weird anecdote about this building. Several years ago, on Reddit, this building was rumored to be a hub of human trafficking and other extremely nefarious claims. 

I'm sure it's all bunk, but a fun read none the less.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/cw1efk/what_is_going_on_at_this_abandoned_diner_in_grand/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1

Edited August 16, 2023 by Cookin_peacocks

[RiversideGR]

4 minutes ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

I don't know, but a weird anecdote about this building. Several years ago, on Reddit, this building was rumored to be a hub of human trafficking and other extremely nefarious claims. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/RBI/comments/cw1efk/what_is_going_on_at_this_abandoned_diner_in_grand/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1

i remember seeing that....the claims in that post didn't seem to have any merit but idk much about the property either way.

[Cookin_peacocks]

32 minutes ago, RiversideGR said:

i remember seeing that....the claims in that post didn't seem to have any merit but idk much about the property either way.

No. It's ghost stories, really. 

 

Still, just reading about it made me look at the building a different way, even though I knew it wasn't real

[sudoclam]

On 8/15/2023 at 9:38 AM, ctpgr34 said:

There is a "groundbreaking" on Thursday morning for the Quimby project

www.thecurrentgr.com

 

Offf! Parking looks like it will be a premium. Only about 30 spots on-site.

[StreetcarGR]

2 hours ago, sudoclam said:

Offf! Parking looks like it will be a premium. Only about 30 spots on-site.

Love to see it!

[RiversideGR]

Pinnacle construction made a post in linkedin about the groundbreaking. They tagged "Quickwater Coffee Roasters" in the post. I know the developer has previously mentioned that the ground level retail space is intended to be a cafe...maybe they already have a tenant set up? (also entirely possible that I am reading too much into this)

 

[ctpgr34]

32 minutes ago, RiversideGR said:

Pinnacle construction made a post in linkedin about the groundbreaking. They tagged "Quickwater Coffee Roasters" in the post. I know the developer has previously mentioned that the ground level retail space is intended to be a cafe...maybe they already have a tenant set up? (also entirely possible that I am reading too much into this)

 

Yes, Quickwater Coffee Roasters will be the cafe tenant at the The Current.  Pretty good coffee!