Tight housing market in downtown Grand Rapids continues to expand

The diversified and growing West Michigan economy has benefited Grand Rapids residents and communities in the past several years, making this area a desirable place to live and work. This has lead to a tightening market for housing downtown, however. Not only are condos and apartments difficult to find in Grand Rapids, they’re also getting more expensive for those who can locate them.

Triad Real Estate Partners released a December report which found that, for the 50 apartment complexes surveyed, 98% of units are currently occupied by tenants. Many factors are at work in the city’s renaissance, but solid city planning, a growing number of jobs in the educational, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors, and a low cost of living are luring new people to the area to stay and settle in the city Forbes Magazine ranked as #1 in the country for raising a family. In fact, the unemployment rate in the area dropped to 3.1%, making it one of the lowest in the country.

Currently, the average rate for a one-bedroom apartment in the Grand Rapids area is $728 a month. Rates on all types of apartments increased an average of 5% in 2015, but analysts do not expect this trend of inflation to continue unchecked. More and more developers have been feeling out the West Michigan market, and construction is already well in process in many places around the city.

Just this week the Woda Group, an Ohio-based developer announced plans to build a $12 million dollar affordable housing development on Front Avenue NW. The project, to be named Grand View Place after its location on the Grand River, will have 68 units and consist of both apartments and townhouses. Construction will begin this coming summer.

Also this week the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation announced a $500,000 grant to Habitat for Humanity of Kent County for renovation and revitalization of housing on the city’s West Side. This money should allow 120 homeowners to achieve affordable housing for themselves and their families.

Other projects, such as the Clancy Lofts overlooking Division and the Medical Mile are expected to be completed this year and will offer further variety for downtown renters seeking a place to live. Whether the planning and construction of these projects will continue apace with burgeoning demand is something that remains to be seen, but for now area renters can expect to have to search and pay more than they’ve had to in the past.

Housing developers bank on continued growth of downtown Grand Rapids

Last fall Forbes ranked Grand Rapids/Wyoming area the fifth fastest growing economy in the United States based on data gathered from Bureau of Economic Analysis study, and more recently The Brookings Institution rated the Grand Rapids economy 69th in the world for growth. Employment levels and GDP are up, and the continuing development happening within the city would seem to back this up.

A significant part of the recent development involves creating spaces for the knowledge workers moving to the city as a result of increased demand from the area’s manufacturing, healthcare, research, and educational sectors - specifically spaces for them to live.

While the trend during the mid-20th century was for successful people to move away from cities and out to the suburbs, the reverse is true now. Many Millennials are choosing to live a car-free lifestyle, and that can only be done downtown and only when the right amenities are available, which means that they have to be within walking or public transit distance of work, grocery stores, retail outlets, farmer’s markets, restaurants, museums, entertainment and sports venues, and schools. There have to be doctors, dentists, clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals nearby. And in this moment in Grand Rapids, that is possible, particularly downtown.

This is why there is so much interest in building new apartments, condos, and townhouses and revitalizing buildings that have sat empty for years. Demand is back.

On the north side of the city, 616 Development is planning to build a mixed-use space of apartments and retail on the Creston Corridor. Not far from there Franklin Partners is looking to develop the Display Pack building, an old furniture factory. The 375,000 square foot complex on Monroe could be transformed into 200 loft apartments - or possibly be used for office space. A little further towards downtown on Monroe, Orion Real Estate Solutions has tentative plans for a high-rise residential building on the riverfront, and the Belknap Lookout Brownstones development will offer high end condos and apartments across the highway from the Medical Mile, within easy walking distance for healthcare workers and their families.

Near Grand Valley’s downtown campus, Rockford Construction has plans to build two 5-story buildings housing 91 market rate apartments on the south side of W. Fulton St. This housing is to accommodate Grand Valley’s surging enrollment. And right downtown, a multi-story residential tower expansion of the B.O.B. will be moving forward after several previous postponements.

For those tempted to experience the downtown lifestyle in up-and-coming Grand Rapids, now is the time to explore the multiplying options.

Arise Grand Rapids: The Revitalization of Downtown

Slowly but surely--even rapidly in some cases--Grand Rapids is transforming. Our old buildings, vacant for some time, are finding new owners with an eye for the future and tenants that are cut from the same cloth. Take the old Harris building for example: Run down for some time after its construction more than 100 years ago, I remember being intrigued by it a handful of times when I was traveling along Division Avenue. I had tried to pull open the door to see if it was unlocked (I do this pretty regularly to buildings that catch my attention) but, as usual, I had no luck. It was a few months later that I heard about something called #saturdaze. Basically, the idea behind this was to host a party. I don't know if it was the first time #saturdaze did this, but they somehow managed to land access to the Harris building. I marked my mental calendar, impatiently awaiting the first time I would get to enter this old gem.

Ah, the Harris building | Photo courtesy of theharrisbuilding.com

The party was killer. So was the party after that. There may have been a third and a fourth fiesta after these, but soon the streak would end and the building would get a new owner. It's safe to say that I was sad to see the venue go as it kind of made these parties what they were: grungy yet mystical. Case in point: My friends and I would wake up the next morning with the blackest of boogers, having danced in a space that wasn't put to use for years. We soon realized it was all of the dust that had been kicked up; those little particles had plastered themselves to the insides of our nostrils while the feet of strangers shuffled around us--kind of disgusting but kind of alluring, right? Though tragic, the death of the relationship between #saturdaze and the Harris building was beautiful because it brought a renewed attention to the Harris building and now, with its new owner, it has been revitalized. A locally-owned organic pasta company called The Local Epicurean moved from its Eastown location into the first floor of the building as soon as it could--and other retailers are expected. Future plans include residential lofts, restaurants, community event space (which means #saturdaze might be back!), and work studios. For the next handful of weeks, the building is even an ArtPrize venue (I guess this shouldn't be too surprising). If everything goes as planned, the Harris building could become a model for the restoration of other buildings in the city.

Another building that is getting a lot of attention is the old Grand Rapids Public Museum. After opening in 1940, the museum moved to its new location in 1994. The building went mostly unused--to the public, anyways--for 16 years. It was then that a nonprofit arts group known as SiTE:LAB began collaborating with the museum to make use of it as a space for ArtPrize. Many citizens enjoyed what SiTE:LAB did and began wondering what the space could be used for the rest of the year, thinking that there had to be something that could occupy the 30,000-square-foot spot for more than just three weeks out of the year. Through these notions, a competition called 54 Jeff was conceived and dozens of entries were submitted for the building's revival. A board of expert jurors, focused mostly on art and architecture, are expected to reveal the competition's winning idea later this month and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't excited.

Anyone traveling on the S-Curve on any given day will see cranes, scaffolding, and insulation going up on buildings like wrapping paper.  Clearly there are big plans for Grand Rapids' old formerly industrial parts.  Cleaning and refurbishing them is something all of us can be happy about.