Jun 27, 2003

Copyright Grand Rapids Press Jun 27, 2003

A plan to raze a neighborhood east of downtown Grand Rapids cleared a major hurdle Thursday as developers announced they acquired options for the land to create a $27 million "mixed-use" complex.

Owners of 40 out of 42 parcels in a three-block area between Michigan Street NE and Int. 196 agreed to make way for a trio of four-story buildings. Only half the parcels were secured as of March.

Each 45,000-square-foot structure could house residences, businesses and offices, according to a Grand Rapids real estate agency.

" We have all the properties ... all but two," George Calder, sales associate with S.J. Wisinski, told the Grand Rapids Planning Commission on Thursday.

Calder unveiled details of the plan, along with renderings of tall buildings with cantilevered roofs, during a preapplication discussion. He vowed to quickly file for a rezoning of the neighborhood bounded by Paris and Union Avenues NE.

Several planning commissioners expressed surprise at the magnitude of the plan, backed by Chicago developer Edward Levitt.

" This is more intense than what I pictured," Commission Chairman Robert Zylstra said, referring to the city's land-use master plan, which tags the Michigan Street "medical mile" for redevelopment.

" Was anybody really thinking about this kind of scale for the neighborhood?" Commissioner Gabriel Works asked rhetorically.
Commissioner Patrick Miles said, "This is major."

Planning Director Bill Hoyt said the project would test the city's zoning policy. Traditionally, different uses are split up, though a "mixed-use" policy may be modeled after downtown's Berkey & Gay building, which houses a similar mix.

" I don't know that we know how to put this thing together," Hoyt said. "It's a major conceptual shift in the thinking."

He added destroying so many homes for a private interest also is new territory. "I don't know that anything on this scale for a private sector has ever happened."

Calder said the area pegged for redevelopment was shrunk slightly from original plans. Enough properties refused to sell that the complex was pushed north, with no Michigan Street frontage.

The details also changed. Levitt in March described to The Press a trio of three-story buildings, 55,000 square feet apiece. He had stressed that plans could change based on property acquisition.

Calder said the three-year, three-phase project was not finalized. But it may include in all three buildings ground-floor commercial or retail uses, two middle floors of offices, and a top floor of apartments renting monthly for $800 to $1,000 a month. A sprawling parking lot would be paved to the east.

The western-most building could go up in 2004, with the north and east structures going up in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
" Until we build it," he said, "we're not really going to know."

Kelly Otto, community organizer for the Midtown Neighborhood Association, accused S.J. Wisinski of keeping residents in the dark about a plan Calder said was three years in the making. The identity of Levitt himself was not revealed until March, after some residents expressed disgust with a clandestine deal.

Several commissioners expressed concern over displaced residents.

Chairman Zylstra warned Calder that "eliminating" a "low-income neighborhood ... is a painful process."

Calder replied that residents who signed option contracts "are making more money on these properties than they will ever make in their life."

Commissioner Janet Sanders recommended a meeting of all Midtown neighbors as the plan goes forward.

When commissioners suggested he survey neighbors beyond the bounded area, Calder asked, "How far do we have to go?"
Commissioner Shaula Johnston rebuffed Calder's exasperation.

" He can be upset," Johnston said later, "But if we don't like his answer then, we're tabling it."