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Setting a downtown housing goal


GRDadof3

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More on churches.

 

The downtown churches play a particular role in a region's fabric; they are the flagships for their respective communions. That put them more in line with the other civic institutions of the urban core, with a membership that is typically regional in scope rather than tightly geographic or parish oriented. Were one to look at the actual work of these congregations one would also see a variety of programs in place, serving the civic center, as well as their low income neighbors.

 

Second, it should be noted that the churches downtown are actually fairly concentrated in an area bounded by Pearl, Jefferson, Wealthy and Division (one missing church in the earlier list would be St George Antiochian Orthodox). this includes the original New England Square (now Memorial Park) with Park Congregational. This boundary also reflects their origin as the leading churches, with members drawn from the wealthier precincts immediately up the hill and to the east. A few churches lie outside of this boundary: St. Mark's Episcopal; Central Reformed on College; and Immanuel Lutheran, now sandwiched on Pill Hill. Interestingly, the industrialized north historically only had one church, Coldwater Christian Reformed (now E. Leonard). That building came came down in the 80s. There is a new church on Monroe Avenue, but it's in a warehouse space, and of course across the river there's St. Mary's. 

 

Also in the history of Grand Rapids, several churches have sold out and moved: Grace Episcopal was originally at Lafayette and Cherry. Central Christian was at Madison and Wealthy (on the edge) before moving out. And then there's Bethlehem Lutheran that sold their building on the Hill to take up more modest space down on Ionia Ave. 

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More on churches.

 

The downtown churches play a particular role in a region's fabric; they are the flagships for their respective communions. That put them more in line with the other civic institutions of the urban core, with a membership that is typically regional in scope rather than tightly geographic or parish oriented. Were one to look at the actual work of these congregations one would also see a variety of programs in place, serving the civic center, as well as their low income neighbors.

 

Second, it should be noted that the churches downtown are actually fairly concentrated in an area bounded by Pearl, Jefferson, Wealthy and Division (one missing church in the earlier list would be St George Antiochian Orthodox). this includes the original New England Square (now Memorial Park) with Park Congregational. This boundary also reflects their origin as the leading churches, with members drawn from the wealthier precincts immediately up the hill and to the east. A few churches lie outside of this boundary: St. Mark's Episcopal; Central Reformed on College; and Immanuel Lutheran, now sandwiched on Pill Hill. Interestingly, the industrialized north historically only had one church, Coldwater Christian Reformed (now E. Leonard). That building came came down in the 80s. There is a new church on Monroe Avenue, but it's in a warehouse space, and of course across the river there's St. Mary's. 

 

Also in the history of Grand Rapids, several churches have sold out and moved: Grace Episcopal was originally at Lafayette and Cherry. Central Christian was at Madison and Wealthy (on the edge) before moving out. And then there's Bethlehem Lutheran that sold their building on the Hill to take up more modest space down on Ionia Ave. 

 

There's also a church in Heritage Hill that's for sale, can't remember the name but it's on Lafayette between State and Fulton. The Catholic Diocese is strategically downsizing over the next decade as number continue to decline.

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duh. Right. Coldbrook was a Dutch-speaking church; the parents of my in-laws were part of a contingent that left Coldbrook to start Creston CRC because they wanted English services.

 Coldbrook CRC was LeGrand CRC until 1906. Legrand was the previous name of Barnett St until 1920. (Church was on the corner of Ionia and Barnett) Creston CRC began in 1915

 

http://www.mygrandrapids.info/synopsis.htm

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There's also a church in Heritage Hill that's for sale, can't remember the name but it's on Lafayette between State and Fulton. The Catholic Diocese is strategically downsizing over the next decade as number continue to decline.

 

Corner of Washington and Lafayette.  First Church of Christ Scientist:

 

http://www.carwm.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.detailFS&ln=713419

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Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I came across this article that seemed pretty apropos of what was being talked about in this thread regarding low income tax credits.

 

Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits fuel expansion of downtown Grand Rapids

Welcome!

 

That is an interesting article, but I would counter the first paragraph:

 

"If you look past the gleaming facades and sparkling new windows of just about every major housing project launched in downtown Grand Rapids over the past five years, you will find Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) at their foundations."

 

I don't know that it's "just about every," I think it might be more like half. River House, Icon, 38 Commerce, Gallery, Fitzgerald, all of the condos on Monroe Center, all of 616's projects, the Select Bank Building, Union Square, none of them used the LIHTC's.

 

Even the project Grand Central Lofts pictured in the article did not use LIHTC.

 

All of Brookstone's projects did, and the new Baker Lofts is using them. Herkimer yes, but it is part of Dwelling Place which should come as no surprise. The two buildings at Tapestry Square did.

 

So some people are arguing there's not enough low income housing, and others are complaining there's too much low income housing. What if an argument could be made that there is just enough? Or what if the city set some kind of goal of how much is low income? Like 40%?

 

I don't think there's any trouble convincing buyers (renters) to look at downtown as an option. In fact, I think there's an untapped latent demand of hundreds of additional renters if pricing in the market rate units could come down somehow. The challenge is making it feasible for developers to do more.

 

I'm also curious as to what the 14 additional housing projects by Wolvering Building Group are planned for 2013. I know they're working on two of Brookstone's. Do you know any more details?

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Midland-based Brookstone Capital LLC intends to tap the federal program that trades income tax credits for investment in low-income housing when it breaks ground this month on three Grand Rapids apartment complexes, the largest of which is valued at $36 million

 

 

It says one of the 3 new buildings is gonna cost 36 million? Thats a big building then? It must be a mistake, and im guessing all 3 are going to cost 36 million.

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Oh man, I was excited for a second lol. Thanks for the clear up.

 

I'm also curious as to what the 14 additional housing projects by Wolvering Building Group are planned for 2013. I know they're working on two of Brookstone's. Do you know any more details?

 

This also has me curious.... As far as more market rate apartments go, there is a couple ways to make some cheaper ones. 38 and gallery both have very expensive finishes. They can use cheaper materials. Not cheap, just less expensive. And another option is to reno old buildings that are income based. Up date them, and market rate them. That way theres more possibilities for future income based rentals.

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Oh man, I was excited for a second lol. Thanks for the clear up.

 

 

This also has me curious.... As far as more market rate apartments go, there is a couple ways to make some cheaper ones. 38 and gallery both have very expensive finishes. They can use cheaper materials. Not cheap, just less expensive. And another option is to reno old buildings that are income based. Up date them, and market rate them. That way theres more possibilities for future income based rentals.

 

There was a project I posted on here years ago that was constructed almost completely of concrete and glass. It was really modern and cool looking, and all of the mechanical pipes ran along the ceilings and were exposed, and the floors were polished concrete with very minimal number of interior walls. Much like a masonry and wood project, but it was considerably cheaper to build. I think it was in Des Moines, off to find it...

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Welcome!

 

That is an interesting article, but I would counter the first paragraph:

 

"If you look past the gleaming facades and sparkling new windows of just about every major housing project launched in downtown Grand Rapids over the past five years, you will find Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) at their foundations."

 

I don't know that it's "just about every," I think it might be more like half. River House, Icon, 38 Commerce, Gallery, Fitzgerald, all of the condos on Monroe Center, all of 616's projects, the Select Bank Building, Union Square, none of them used the LIHTC's.

 

Even the project Grand Central Lofts pictured in the article did not use LIHTC.

 

All of Brookstone's projects did, and the new Baker Lofts is using them. Herkimer yes, but it is part of Dwelling Place which should come as no surprise. The two buildings at Tapestry Square did.

 

So some people are arguing there's not enough low income housing, and others are complaining there's too much low income housing. What if an argument could be made that there is just enough? Or what if the city set some kind of goal of how much is low income? Like 40%?

 

I don't think there's any trouble convincing buyers (renters) to look at downtown as an option. In fact, I think there's an untapped latent demand of hundreds of additional renters if pricing in the market rate units could come down somehow. The challenge is making it feasible for developers to do more.

 

I'm also curious as to what the 14 additional housing projects by Wolvering Building Group are planned for 2013. I know they're working on two of Brookstone's. Do you know any more details?

 

The recent rush of low-income projects can be entirely explained by the departure of many of the previously used brownfield and historic tax credits. The LIHTC remains one of the few remaining financial tools to assist in bridging the gap between projected rents and construction/financing costs. The other way to bridge the gap, as GRDad indicates is to deploy non-traditional construction techniques that lower the overall construction costs, or renovate an existing building. Most of the market-rate projects listed here utilized tax credits that are no longer available.

 

In regards to the low-income housing goal, IMO the more important objective is the one of housing diversity. I welcome low-income housing, but high concentrations of it may reduce a neighborhood's redevelopment momentum. Ideally, individual buildings should be mixed-income -- where some units are reserved for low-income and the remaining are market rate. 

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Well from I have been reading there may be a demand yet for market rate. Iv seen that Gallery is floating around 94% full and similar numbers for Icon and Bond. The new 616 lofts on Ionia I believe only has 2 units left. I think we need a nice push of new mixed used buildings. 38 is a perfect fit. Its great looking, adds life to commerce, brought companys to a new office, and brought people downtown to live.

 

                    As far as tax credits go. If LIHTC is working, continue it.

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There was some talk at an event I attended last night about setting a downtown housing goal: X number of new residential units by Y period of time, and formulating initiatives and developer incentives to make it happen. Whether you need buyer incentives or not is debatable. Ren Zones helped fill a lot of condos, but the values on those condos have taken a huge hit since the tax credits expired.

 

What would it take to get to 10,000? How many years? 2020? With standard organic absorption of units.

 

The thought process is that it will take 10,000 people to get a major retailer/major grocer downtown, amongst the other benefits of having that many residents in the city.

 

Im fron Hartford area, and our city/state have recently set such a goal.  We as cities come frrom two different places of course, but it is interesting to see that municipalities have been setting population goals or are talking about it.

 

For Hartford, we have always had the jobs.  In fact most of the cities woes were caused by companied destroying blocks of historic buildings to build larger offices and therefore removing the residents from the city center making the downtown a ghost town at night.  this of course led to percieved safety issues due to a lack of the eyes on the street and ultimately to actual crime issues and suburban flight.  (end tangent)

Our downtown has a population of about 2000 right now mostly living in new buildings/rennovations from the last 8-9 years.  We also have about 2100 hotel rooms in our downtown that average 60% occupancy adding to our nite time population. 

The city and state have created an agency that is charged with adding 3000 housing units to the area (not strictly downtown) within the next several years.  This agency has 60M funding right now to achieve that goal.  

 

It seems to be working too because they are focusing on "difficult projects"  meaning rennovations that have costly obsticles like asbestose or strange floorplates.

We also just got federal monies for income restricted housing.   The result is that the 5 major projects that are currently proposed are now VERY likely to be completed.  One of them is a 26 story office building filled with asbestos that recieved 17 million of that funding already.  The 286 housing units that this will generate goes a long way towards filling the astounding demand for downtown apartments, but also solves the issue of what to do with 26 floors of asbestos.

 

The 5 major projects that are about to start total 1007 housing units, 50% increase. (one of these 5 is not using any of the 60M)

I can not recall the deadline year they chose, and I am sure some projects will falter, but the first 4 that are likely to be funded by this instrument and the one that is not all seem very much like they will be inder construction by the end of 2014 (I think one building might take till early 2014 to start)

 

The apparent goal is to have a grocery store and a major retailer as well.   I think this can be a bit of a pipe dream.  If you look at cities like Minneapolis you can see that it might be a long road before a grocery store is viable, and major retail is a huge challenge.  Only now is Minneapolis looking to get over those issues in large part to the 10K+ downtown residents, Mass transit, and a metro population over 5 Million..... not to mention being the HQ city of that large retailer Target.

 

It will be interesting to see how these programs pan out.  I just hope that the new residents make the business community more interested in maintaining and even adding to the 110,000 daytime workers.

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Im fron Hartford area, and our city/state have recently set such a goal.  We as cities come frrom two different places of course, but it is interesting to see that municipalities have been setting population goals or are talking about it.

 

For Hartford, we have always had the jobs.  In fact most of the cities woes were caused by companied destroying blocks of historic buildings to build larger offices and therefore removing the residents from the city center making the downtown a ghost town at night.  this of course led to percieved safety issues due to a lack of the eyes on the street and ultimately to actual crime issues and suburban flight.  (end tangent)

Our downtown has a population of about 2000 right now mostly living in new buildings/rennovations from the last 8-9 years.  We also have about 2100 hotel rooms in our downtown that average 60% occupancy adding to our nite time population. 

The city and state have created an agency that is charged with adding 3000 housing units to the area (not strictly downtown) within the next several years.  This agency has 60M funding right now to achieve that goal.  

 

It seems to be working too because they are focusing on "difficult projects"  meaning rennovations that have costly obsticles like asbestose or strange floorplates.

We also just got federal monies for income restricted housing.   The result is that the 5 major projects that are currently proposed are now VERY likely to be completed.  One of them is a 26 story office building filled with asbestos that recieved 17 million of that funding already.  The 286 housing units that this will generate goes a long way towards filling the astounding demand for downtown apartments, but also solves the issue of what to do with 26 floors of asbestos.

 

The 5 major projects that are about to start total 1007 housing units, 50% increase. (one of these 5 is not using any of the 60M)

I can not recall the deadline year they chose, and I am sure some projects will falter, but the first 4 that are likely to be funded by this instrument and the one that is not all seem very much like they will be inder construction by the end of 2014 (I think one building might take till early 2014 to start)

 

The apparent goal is to have a grocery store and a major retailer as well.   I think this can be a bit of a pipe dream.  If you look at cities like Minneapolis you can see that it might be a long road before a grocery store is viable, and major retail is a huge challenge.  Only now is Minneapolis looking to get over those issues in large part to the 10K+ downtown residents, Mass transit, and a metro population over 5 Million..... not to mention being the HQ city of that large retailer Target.

 

It will be interesting to see how these programs pan out.  I just hope that the new residents make the business community more interested in maintaining and even adding to the 110,000 daytime workers.

 

Thanks for stopping by VoiceofReason. It's an interesting program Hartford has going on. Do you know where the $60 Million is coming from? That's a lot of dough.

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I'm also curious as to what the 14 additional housing projects by Wolvering Building Group are planned for 2013. I know they're working on two of Brookstone's. Do you know any more details?

 

One is a 4 story multi-family/business building at 413 Hall SE.

 

11 more Wolverine buildings to go.....

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Thanks for stopping by VoiceofReason. It's an interesting program Hartford has going on. Do you know where the $60 Million is coming from? That's a lot of dough.

 

Yes, it was bonded by the state. 

 

We are a tiny little state with limited funding and high taxes, so some are against this program, but those are mostly people who forget that their perfect suburbs exist as a result of the once great city of Hartford.

 

The entity is called Capital region development Authority

http://crdact.net/

 

The predecessor was created a while back by a govenor who since served jail time :P  but that measure kick started Hartfords redevelopment.  It only was supported because it focused on amenities with only a small portion going towards housing.  The key projects were based around building a football stadium for UCONN rennovating the arena (and adding a shiny highrise apartment to it) building a science museum and building a convention center.

 

while there was plenty of good in that first wave there was plenty of waste and likely some graft.

 

this new version is much more intelligent, and apparently graft free.  Its mostly about housing and the non housing elements are more about creating efficiencies and such.

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I sure do....

 

I have a small obsession with Hartford much like you guys do with GR, so please excuse my excitement :)

 

I will hilight the 5 projects that are the largest, and therefore have the most available info.  In addition to these projects, there are several small (2-10 units) projects that will likely be assisted as well.

 

Front Street Phase II

-Fully funded including some 40% ($14M) gap financing from the state (although technically from the origonal CCEDA program ( “Six Pillars”) that has now been replaced and I posted about)

$35M New Construction of a 5 story apartment builsing with 115 market rate apartments and 25,000SF of retail.

http://courantblogs.com/ct-real-estate/construction-on-front-street-apartments-to-begin-by-early-summer/

We dont have a rendering but suspect something will be out soon and likely will not be very impressive,  The developer is primarily a commercial landlord who owns strip malls.  Phase 1 is essentially a strip mall.  these apartments were supposed to be ontop of that retail but the recession scared them off.

 

Mostly studio and 1 Bedroom with a handful of 2 bedrooms

 

On The Plaza

-Rennovation of an old 12 story long vacant hotel into 199 Apartments and 11K sf retail on an elevated plaza

99 of which will be restricted income due to a $5M grant from from the state by way of the feds.  HUD money I guess.    This apartment was planned as entry level from the begining so this seems like free money.  these are going to mostly be studios and 1 BR and serve the massive waiting lists we are seeing at existing buildings for this kind of housing.  We have a large number of young professionals who are desperate for downtown housing.  This funding requires renters to earn less than 80% median income and such.  maybe some will be 60%   Median income is 66K or so here, so we are generally talking about fresh grads earning 35-45K and hospitality workers.   

-NOTE: UCONN just announced moving its hartford campus (2000 students) downtown, literally next door to this building.  I assume there are now talks about making this student housing now too.  The building got historical tax credits too.  I am shocked it has not announced a start date as it could easily beat the above building to market and reap the rewards of the backlog. 

HC-WFSB-Hartford_opt.jpg

Its the building on the right.

The building in the foreground is now a hole and is proposed to become another apartment (see Residences)

 

777 Main Street:

This is the 26 story former bank of America Building that is vacant and full of asbestos.

The developer has proposed 287 apartments with 20% income based.  and 35,000 SF retail.   They have received 17M of CRDA funding (the first project to do so and the agencies #1 priority)  They got $5M for the low income segment.  this building is also heavy on the smaller apartments but will have plenty of larger nicer units as well.  especially on the top floors.  Killer views up thereof the river and really the whole river valley (except to the South)   Total cost is something like $80M

 

 

777-Main.JPG

Its the building dead center.    This is in the middle of downtown essentially and therefore a high priority project.

 

 

101 Pearl and 111 Pearl Project:

This is 2 buildings that were recently sold to a team of local developers with rediculous connections and equal wealth and expertise.

There are 2 older empty office buildings that will be redeveloped into apartments and retail with the possibility of some commercial or professional space.  These 2 buildings are on the opposite corner of the block that 777 Main street is on and again is absolutely in the center of downtown.  The CRDA is heavily behind this project as well because it is a challenging property and their mission is to help fund the properties that would be otherwise difficult to complete without subsidy.  (essentially, the state is eliminating the risk)

 

Combined, they will become 191 apartments

 24,500 SF retail

one is 12 story 100Ksf

other is 7 story 75K sf

 

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121031/NEWS01/121039977/0/NEWS01&template=printart

 

 

 

 

 

The Residences at River View:

The owner of an engineering firm in the area bought the old TV studio pictured above next to the hotel and was going to build a 12 story leed platinum office building for his firm.  Since it was 2008, that clearly didnt work out so he has retooled his design to be mixed use.

14/15 stories 195 residences with 20K+ office space for his firm and ~10Ksf of retail.  This project has apparently gotten the green light for funding from the CRDA, but no numbers have been released yet.  I am sure it will come out when the next meeting minutes are released.  rendering available in the link below.

 

This building and on the plaza are next door to each other.  This is the higher end of the two buildings, and will have some great views available.  Again there will be a large number of studios and 1 Beds.   To the east of on the plaza, the state is buying a vacant 700K sf office building and moving 2000 workers in there from all over the state.  To the North of on the plaza, UCONN is moving 2000 students from its Hartford campus.  This part of downtown will look completelydifferent in the next 2-3 years!

http://www.theresidencesatriverview.com/

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Yes, this is probably the first time in a long long time that Hartford has had all of its ducks in a row.

 

The govenor is supportive of mass transit and urban development and knows that for the state to succeed, Hartford has to be healthy.

 

The mayor is by all accounts intelligent, business friendly and not corrupt.  Taxes are still insanely high, so the city is not actually business friendly, but the city and state are working together with a program to lure companies to the state.

 

The business community is actually working with the city and state to fix some of the issues that plagued Hartford too.  Parking garages have replaced surface lots, commuting vouchers are offered for mass transit users, roads are being narrowed and made pedestrian friendly.  business are putting up signage and outdoor seating etc...  One company, Travelers, is redeveloping its plaza to be more accessable (removing walls) and making it a public space possibly including an ice rink and a cafe.  Another is turning its entire plaza into greenspace, and a third company gave the city 2 million to acquire and demolish a blighted building near a major highway that gave a bad image to the city.  The utility is putting in charging stations for elextric vehicles as well.  It really is kind of impressive.

 

The arts commuity has also banded together to better link the cultural institutions and increase patronage through wayfaring and such.  

 

and lastly, our largest theater, The Bushnel (Host of the Opera, Symphony, Ballet and traveling broadway shows) is looking to build a "highrise condominium" on a lot next to their facility that happens to overlook our central park.  This is still a little out there but who knows, anythings possible.

 

The buggest gamechangers we have are all DOT related though.

There is a plan to bury I-84 and the train tracks as it goes through downtown and realign them making traffic frlow better while allowing the reconnecting of the CBD with the Asylum Hill neighborhood and opening 26 acres to development and expanding the downtown Park (while removing the train tracks from one edge of it)

 

We are also building a commuter rail set to open in 2016.  and possible high speed service some time after that to NYC and maybe Montreal (more far fetched). 

 

We are also about to start a project called iQuilt but thats too complicated to explain... they are redoing the train station and the bus routes and a couple roads and bike lanes.

Oh yeah and building a bus rapid transit system on a special road.  its really is alot

 

 

I have a soft spot for Grand Rapids too.

As a city you guys have come a long way and its extremely livable. 

Besides you have some of the best breweries in America, so for that I am jealous!

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