Greg Gilmore’s proposed concert venue and festival marketplace known as BOBville has received a go-ahead financing kick from Grand Rapids DDA. Last Wednesday the Board approved over $2.5 million in support for some major downtown projects, including $432,000 for the new entertainment structure next to the BOB.
Last Wednesday the Grand Rapids DDA Board approved over $2.5 million in support for some major downtown projects. The Downtown Urban Market project will receive $1,067,445 out of future tax revenue it generates.
$850,000 will be used to design and construct a new AMTRAK station just south of The Rapid Central Station. The new station will be larger and will eliminate the traffic stoppages that currently occur twice a day on Wealthy and Market streets when the train is being boarded.
The Fix on I-196 project is holding a ribbon cutting ceremony this Friday on the Coit Avenue bridge. The project reconstructed and widened two miles of freeway and replaced five bridges. It was funded by the $787 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Activity is scheduled for 11/19/10 at 11am
Christopher B. Leinberger, Patrick C. Doherty, Director, Smart Strategy Initiative, New America Foundation
Washington Monthly
excerpt:
We’re unlikely, however, to see a real estate recovery based on a continuation of the type of development that has driven the industry for the past few generations: low-density, car-dependent suburbs growing out of cornfields at the edge of metropolitan areas. That’s because there is now a massive oversupply of such suburban fringe development, brought on by decades of policy favoring it—including heavy government subsidies for extending roads, sewers, and utilities into undeveloped land. Houses on the exurban fringe of several large metro areas have typically lost more than twice as much value as metro areas as a whole since the mid-decade peak. Many of those homes are now priced below the cost of the materials that went into building them, which means that their owners have no financial incentive to invest in their upkeep. Under such conditions, whole neighborhoods swiftly decline and turn into slums. This happened in many inner-city neighborhoods in the 1960s, and we’re seeing evidence of it in many exurban neighborhoods today. The Los Angeles Times reports that in one gated community in Hemet, east of L.A., McMansions with granite countertops and vaulted ceilings are being rented to poor families on Section 8 vouchers; according to the Washington Examiner, similar homes in Germantown, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C., are being converted to boarding houses.
Many hope that when the economy recovers, demand will pick up, inventories of empty homes will be whittled down, and the traditional suburban development machine will lumber back to life. But don’t bet on it. Demand for standard-issue suburban housing is going down, not up, a trend that was apparent even before the crash. In 2006, Arthur C. Nelson, now at the University of Utah, estimated in the Journal of the American Planning Association that there will be 22 million unwanted large-lot suburban homes by 2025.
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Link: Question and Answer
I have two answers for you. First, there a lot of investors in town selling homes on land contract. Often a sign in the yard sells a home like that in a good neighborhood and good schools. You’ll want to talk to a Realtor who knows who those investors are, and which ones are worth contacting and which are not. Second, if you have at least a good 10% to put down on a house, look for your ideal home in the ideal neighborhood that is currently for rent, and make an offer. Just because its not listed does not mean its not for sale! And…you’ll want a good Realtor to represent you so you dont get ripped off in terms of value, terms, interest rate, and general business conduct.
For over 80 years the Fulton Street Farmers Market has brought locally grown produce and homemade items to the heart of Grand Rapids. Last Tuesday the association unveiled an estimated $3 million renovation of the market that will improve vendor conditions and customer experience. The new designs include a 2,000-square-foot building, which will house 8-12 vendor stalls year round…
Photo Credit: Lott3Metz Architecture
Seattle Times – 8/21/10 – Full Article
photo: BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
excerpt:
“Sauer’s tiny Seattle home is remarkable. But it shouldn’t be.
“I wanted to compress my home to squirt me back out to the community,” he says, taking inspiration from dwellings in Scandinavia and Japan, places where space is dear. “That was one of the philosophical reasons. I want to be able to shop daily, not store a lot and eat really well.”
Homeowners are building smaller in general. It’s economical and ecological. But few do it in 11-feet-3-inches wide, by 16-feet-2-inches deep, by 10-feet-4-inches tall (Sauer is very accurate) with two beds, a full kitchen with a dishwasher, bathroom with a shower, a soaking tub set into the floor just inside the front door. On three living levels. There’s also closet space, a dining table and storage for two bikes. All of it contemporary and in cool blue, with accents of black, red and white…”
The biggest change will involve the MLS, the Multiple Listing System, which is how all the homes currently on the market can be viewed by Realtors, Clients and the general public. GRAR was using Solid Earth for their MLS, but to join with SWMRIC, converted over to that system, using Rapattoni instead. And while for the most part, all the listings transferred over, there are still a few gliches being worked on. In addition, the number of characters for property descriptions is also limited to 1000, so many Realtors will need to downsize their comments.
SWMRIC covers available Real Estate in the South and West Michigan counties of Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Hillsdale, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa, St. Joseph, Van Buren and beyond.
Serving the following Realtor Associations: Battle Creek Area, Branch County, Grand Rapids, Greater Kalamazoo, Hillsdale County, Mason-Oceana-Manistee, Montcalm County, Southwestern Michigan, St. Joseph, West Central Michigan and West Michigan Lakeshore.
