Urban Grand Rapids

There is a common myth that "out of state" developers, generally from "Wall Street", are hoovering up Single Family Units (SFU). And in the era of free-money-for-those-with-money [interest rates sub-3%] this phenomenon did occur in some places where various other economic factors were in play. That's not in dispute. But, did it happen in Grand Rapids? And is it happening in Grand Rapids? To the data!

The municipal agenda for the Planning Commission meeting on 2024-04-25 is 👉here👈

2037 S Division Ave

On the fourth Tuesday of this month (2024-04-23) the City Commission will be voting on the suite of zoning reforms which have been in development since the joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the City Commission in July of last year (2023).

The 2024-04-11 meeting of the City Planning Commission was an update of the current Master Plan process, this being a recap of phase#3. There is one more phase (phase#4) to go.

A key result so far from the process is that the citizens of Grand Rapids understand the need for housing, and are ready for it. In many ways the citizens of this city are out ahead of their leadership, by a considerable distance.

The Rapid's fixed-route ridership increased by 18.1% in February 2024 relative to February 2023. Evening ridership (+19%) continues to lead the recovery; although this may be slightly influenced by some reduced service in the AM schedule due to under-funding by the Democratic trifecta in Lansing. So far it looks like LBO (local bus operating) funding from the state of Michigan to urban transit operators will hit a record low in 2025.

Within the agenda packet for the 2024-03-27 meeting of the Grand Rapids Brownfield Authority (GR Grow), on pages 48 - 49, is a reference to a potential "Stadium District Tower":

The ZORI is the Zillow Observed Rent Index from, you guessed it, Zillow, Zillow provides a variety of data at their Data page. We periodically check in on the ZORI to see what it says about rents in Grand Rapids.