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New projects in Monroe North


GRDadof3

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On 4/10/2019 at 4:30 PM, GRDadof3 said:

I don't think my short term wish to see more construction projects should usurp the overall long-term health of the community. :) Plus, if you do a project with LIHTC and market rate split, you can still capture some of the tax credits. The city should actually make it a mandate. In other bigger cities, and even in Boulder and Madison WI, it's the other way around: developers are being forced to include affordable housing at a certain percentage. Here we haven't quite ripened that much on the market rate side, so developers use the LIHTC to help pad their pro-forma's.  Something's not right if it's more profitable to build low income housing than market rate housing, by getting government subsidies/kickbacks. 

We're talking these projects being locked into income restricted for 30 years, no ifs, ands or buts down the road. What if higher paid professionals in 10 years way outnumber the low income people (which should be a goal of the city anyway, smdh), all the new ones will have to venture out to the burbs because there won't be anything for them. I'm already hearing some of that now, that the pickings for the middle incomes are very slim in the city. 

The project is a 50/50 mix with market rate and LIHTC and some commercial.

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On 4/10/2019 at 5:30 PM, GRDadof3 said:

.:)  Plus, if you do a project with LIHTC and market rate split, you can still capture some of the tax credits. The city should actually make it a mandate. In other bigger cities, and even in Boulder and Madison WI, it's the other way around: developers are being forced to include affordable housing at a certain percentage. 

Mandating a percentage of affordable housing in a development is also known as "inclusionary zoning."   While i also think it sounds like a great idea,  it is  illegal in the state of Michigan.  State law would need to change to have something like in Boulder. 

Also, from   what i understand with the point system that is used to allocate LIHTC grants, it is MUCH easier for a developer to do 40 units of low income all in one building than to do a mix of low income and market rate.  It sound like this is one of the few projects where that extra effort was put in.

 

 

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13 hours ago, uncus said:

Mandating a percentage of affordable housing in a development is also known as "inclusionary zoning."   While i also think it sounds like a great idea,  it is  illegal in the state of Michigan.  State law would need to change to have something like in Boulder. 

Also, from   what i understand with the point system that is used to allocate LIHTC grants, it is MUCH easier for a developer to do 40 units of low income all in one building than to do a mix of low income and market rate.  It sound like this is one of the few projects where that extra effort was put in.

 

 

Inclusionary zoning can't be mandatory (right now anyway), but it can be part of incentive packages doled out by the city. And usually LIHTC projects also layer up with other incentives like Brownfield, etc. that have to be approved by the city. 

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  • 5 months later...

The building at 601 Ottawa Ave NW has been demo'd and almost completely cleared(former Grand Rapids Forging and Steel facility).  I've gone back through 2 years worth of posts on this thread, and tried searching through city agenda packets.  I apologize if it's been discussed an I missed it.  Does anyone know what's going on here?

 

48803387513_c05e7fc0f2_k.jpg

On 3/5/2018 at 12:02 PM, EastownLeo said:

The Grand Rapids Forging and Steel building? 

I find it odd that those would be demolished.  I believe this is the Grand Rapids police dept. headquarters for the VICE unit.

The parking lot next to Rockies houses many undercover cars, some seized vehicles, and inside that building you will see blacked out windows and workout equipment.

It has not been manufacturing for years, but a semi secret VICE headquarters.  Would the city give that up for parking?

NVM I found it^.  Appears to be parking for county employees. 

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I am seeing some clearing going on on the Belknap Hill.  I thought they were going to replace the Newberry Stairs, but it looks like they are building a new set of stairs connecting Division to the top of Belknap park.  Would love to see the newberry stairs reclaimed.  The park improvements to Lookout park are coming along nicely. I'll share pics later.  Here is a pic of the first Belknap hill stairs I found at  http://godwin.bobanna.com/GR_1960_and_before.html

gr_building_the_stairs_to_lookout_park_1.jpg

The Not newberry stairs from the MOBL-NOBL plan.....

image.thumb.png.84d598f15fac1f68d5018e27cec23ebf.png

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6 minutes ago, grandrollerz said:

I am seeing some clearing going on on the Belknap Hill.  I thought they were going to replace the Newberry Stairs, but it looks like they are building a new set of stairs connecting Division to the top of Belknap park.  Would love to see the newberry stairs reclaimed.  The park improvements to Lookout park are coming along nicely. I'll share pics later.  Here is a pic of the first Belknap hill stairs I found at  http://godwin.bobanna.com/GR_1960_and_before.html

gr_building_the_stairs_to_lookout_park_1.jpg

The Not newberry stairs from the MOBL-NOBL plan.....

image.thumb.png.84d598f15fac1f68d5018e27cec23ebf.png

I've noticed this over the last couple of days. Thanks for helping me figure out what's going on. 

I agree, I hope they restore the stairs. I'm always amazed at how many people run the stairs (there's a line on some nice afternoons).

Joe

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On 9/27/2019 at 10:17 AM, MJLO said:

The building at 601 Ottawa Ave NW has been demo'd and almost completely cleared(former Grand Rapids Forging and Steel facility).  I've gone back through 2 years worth of posts on this thread, and tried searching through city agenda packets.  I apologize if it's been discussed an I missed it.  Does anyone know what's going on here?

 

48803387513_c05e7fc0f2_k.jpg

NVM I found it^.  Appears to be parking for county employees. 

It is parking for County employees. This property was part of a series of land-swaps in this area between the City, County, and MSU. The County lost a parking lot along the river so this property was traded and subsequently torn down. Not the best use for this lot but better than parking being along the river. Hopefully it won't stay parking for long. 

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51 minutes ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Minimum of 2-3 decades is the lifespan of a surface lot DT. Many remain for 5. A few are approaching 6.

Could be worse. The parking lot facing Grand Circus in Detroit between Adams and Madison has existed for over 100 years. It was developed as single family homes in the 1800s, which were demolished during Detroit's first boom for speculative development...which never happened. 

Just a factoid I think is interesting. 

Edited by Khorasaurus1
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  • 4 weeks later...

I attended the Disability Advocates of Kent County Gala fundraiser on Wednesday at Clearwater place and firstly, Clearwater place isn't very nice venue in North Monroe. I think we still consider that North Monroe?

When looking for pictures on their website of the gala, I found there's ongoing conversations around accessibility to Belknap Hill apart from the connector I think we've talked about that would run along the highway down the hill.

still digging for more details.

speaking of digging, the water\sewer construction is almost done in the neighborhood and on the hill. finally.

oh, and there is a bigpile of trusses in the parking lot of the roofless apartments.they appear to have reinforced the roof line with cinder blocs unprepared for the new roof.385f9f5eafafa3152ac53bb55668c85b.jpg09baa7940dda3ff0a669d9153c9ba9ba.jpg4996b124019ef4087767cd750b4d1b8c.jpg

Sent from my Acer Chromebook R11 (CB5-132T, C738T) using Tapatalk

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On 10/26/2019 at 8:04 AM, grandrollerz said:

I attended the Disability Advocates of Kent County Gala fundraiser on Wednesday at Clearwater place and firstly, Clearwater place isn't very nice venue in North Monroe. I think we still consider that North Monroe?

When looking for pictures on their website of the gala, I found there's ongoing conversations around accessibility to Belknap Hill apart from the connector I think we've talked about that would run along the highway down the hill.

still digging for more details.

speaking of digging, the water\sewer construction is almost done in the neighborhood and on the hill. finally.

oh, and there is a bigpile of trusses in the parking lot of the roofless apartments.they appear to have reinforced the roof line with cinder blocs unprepared for the new roof.385f9f5eafafa3152ac53bb55668c85b.jpg09baa7940dda3ff0a669d9153c9ba9ba.jpg4996b124019ef4087767cd750b4d1b8c.jpg

Sent from my Acer Chromebook R11 (CB5-132T, C738T) using Tapatalk
 

Wait. Clearwater place isnt a nice place you think?

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13 hours ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

Clearwater place isn't very nice venue in North Monroe. I think we still consider that North Monroe

Clearwater is most definitely in Creston.  Unless Monroe North and Creston overlap, as Monroe North does with Belknap/NOBL.

13 hours ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I found there's ongoing conversations around accessibility to Belknap Hi

There will be some presentations and conversation about the Hill at NOBL's upcoming annual meeting (November 12th).

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2 hours ago, whitemice said:

Clearwater is most definitely in Creston.  Unless Monroe North and Creston overlap, as Monroe North does with Belknap/NOBL.

There will be some presentations and conversation about the Hill at NOBL's upcoming annual meeting (November 12th).

Oh, the way you wrote it made me think it wasnt a nice venue, and I was like, crap, I'm getting married there in four months.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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