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Spectrum Health Purchases GRCC Track on Barclay


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http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/06/spectrum_health_grcc_broker_de.html

Spectrum might continue to consolidate it's staff to the downtown area like just done at 25 Ottawa (my speculation...no plans publicized).

I hate to say that I agree with an MLive comment, but the track is a community asset and it will be sad to see it go.  Running and games of ultimate seem to be the most popular.  It would be nice to see an MVP go in the building to supplant some of the fitness that took place there.

(Couldn't find a Spectrum Health thread to put this in, admins can move as needed)

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The article doesn't say anything about Spectrums plans for the land.  Are we speculating offices?  Does Spectrum have more administrative employees scattered throughout the area?  I'd think additional office space would cannibalize some of the existing space they use downtown.

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22 minutes ago, MJLO said:

The article doesn't say anything about Spectrums plans for the land.  Are we speculating offices?  Does Spectrum have more administrative employees scattered throughout the area?  I'd think additional office space would cannibalize some of the existing space they use downtown.

They do have many admin type employees on 44th and Breton area but would think they would use this land for a more revenue generating, clinical use, rather than sticking schedulers here.  As with most health systems, Spectrum is critically short on doctors and thus patient access to healthcare is not what it should be.

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3 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

It does seem like it would have been a great open space for the city to lock down. Green space isn't going to be any easier to get as the city grows...

Joe

Indeed.  This was a significant loss.  It could have been a very nice and well-placed park.

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No denying it would have been a nice place for a park. But right now it is nothing more than a empty field with a track around it. Unless someone comes up with a plan and the money to fund it, it will stay that way for a very long time. There is always a higher and better use for empty property, but how long does it stay that way until you let someone develop it. 

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46 minutes ago, Prankster said:

No denying it would have been a nice place for a park. But right now it is nothing more than a empty field with a track around it. Unless someone comes up with a plan and the money to fund it, it will stay that way for a very long time. There is always a higher and better use for empty property, but how long does it stay that way until you let someone develop it. 

There is a very similar looking empty field with a track around it right off Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, at the north edge of the Northwestern University medical center complex. That land is probably worth 10x the GRCC field, but it's still kept as open space by the city.

I work for Spectrum and actually look over this field from my floor. I wish they would keep it open space. I see people constantly using it from the neighborhood, from the school and from Spectrum. I've also talked to patients who have looked to it as a motivator during a long hospital stay, making it a goal to walk around that track after they're better.

Spectrum should build within their existing footprint, such as replacing one of the old hospital towers to build an inpatient tower that matches the size and modernization of the Meijer Heart Center. That would require moving some existing resources, but I think the older towers also have some outpatient and non patient care offices that could possibly be moved anyway.

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2 hours ago, Prankster said:

No denying it would have been a nice place for a park. But right now it is nothing more than a empty field with a track around it. Unless someone comes up with a plan and the money to fund it, it will stay that way for a very long time. There is always a higher and better use for empty property, but how long does it stay that way until you let someone develop it. 

Totally agree. It's just a shame that someone (the city) didn't buy it first. With the Hospital, College and Heritage Hill neighborhood surrounding it, it could have made a fantastic park with trees, paths, benches, etc. That kind of green space is hard to find.

Joe

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On 7/1/2016 at 4:21 PM, joeDowntown said:

Totally agree. It's just a shame that someone (the city) didn't buy it first. With the Hospital, College and Heritage Hill neighborhood surrounding it, it could have made a fantastic park with trees, paths, benches, etc. That kind of green space is hard to find.

Joe

The only problem with that is that you've got an entity with virtually unlimited resources that wants to own every piece of land that they possibly can.  I suspect competing with Spectrum on price would have been almost impossible.  The only possible saving grace is that maybe, just maybe, Spectrum bought it to preserve it as greenspace...  :rofl:

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is interesting and sort of related.  GRCC just listed the McCabe-Marlowe House on the corner of Lafayette and Fountain.  "Only" $575,000. 

Why is GRCC selling off all these assets?  Are they hard up for cash?   Or are they so savvy that they want to get out before the Heritage Hill bubble goes KABOOM?  

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1 hour ago, x99 said:

Why is GRCC selling off all these assets?  Are they hard up for cash?   Or are they so savvy that they want to get out before the Heritage Hill bubble goes KABOOM?  

Enrollment has dropped from a peak of 17,920 in 2010 to 15,719 in 2014, and it was projected to be under 14,000 at the start of last year. (Edit: fall 2015 was 14,938.) It also doesn't help that the big 2012 millage failed. I attended on and off from 2012 to 2015 and the purchase of the old Davenport campus on Fulton was widely regarded as a bad decision, as that much space was really only needed during the recession.

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On 7/18/2016 at 4:21 PM, getemngo said:

Enrollment has dropped from a peak of 17,920 in 2010 to 15,719 in 2014, and it was projected to be under 14,000 at the start of last year. (Edit: fall 2015 was 14,938.) It also doesn't help that the big 2012 millage failed. I attended on and off from 2012 to 2015 and the purchase of the old Davenport campus on Fulton was widely regarded as a bad decision, as that much space was really only needed during the recession.

Ah.  That helps to explain things.  They probably are tight on funds.  There's a simple solution to their campus acquisition:  Sell off the unnecessary parts of it.  There are a lot of buildings that they really don't need at all and which aren't related to their core business.  I believe the campus also included a number of houses and rental properties.  Perhaps we'll see those hit the block next.  Maybe GVSU needs a frat house or two. :P

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On 7/18/2016 at 3:01 PM, x99 said:

This is interesting and sort of related.  GRCC just listed the McCabe-Marlowe House on the corner of Lafayette and Fountain.  "Only" $575,000. 

Why is GRCC selling off all these assets?  Are they hard up for cash?   Or are they so savvy that they want to get out before the Heritage Hill bubble goes KABOOM?  

http://realestate.mlive.com/realestate-news/2016/07/foundation_puts_151-year-old_h.html#incart_gallery

Interesting article regarding the McCabe-Marlowe house. I did see that it was owned by the GRCC Foundation rather than the College itself.

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1 hour ago, ChevalierNoir said:

http://realestate.mlive.com/realestate-news/2016/07/foundation_puts_151-year-old_h.html#incart_gallery

Interesting article regarding the McCabe-Marlowe house. I did see that it was owned by the GRCC Foundation rather than the College itself.

Seems like it would make a great B&B. 

Joe

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On 7/23/2016 at 0:24 PM, joeDowntown said:

Seems like it would make a great B&B. 

Joe

The GRPress article was good.  It's sort of funny that two articles in a row about houses in HH basically said, "You kinda sorta probably don't want to buy this..."    Ugh.  Do a nice one, for once!  The commercial kitchen would work great for a B&B if it had 10 bedrooms, or you wanted to rent it for corporate events, but those uses are both prohibited.  Makes it a tough sell when the place kitty-corner is bigger, much nicer for residential use, and the same price.  As a sorority house or corporate retreat though, this place would work well.  Maybe Spectrum will buy this one too!  They could call it a "recovery serenity facility" and charge some insurance company like $900 a night per room...  :)  

It's also worth mentioning that this one has a Matterport virtual tour.  If you've never seen one of these things, they're pretty amazing:  https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=kCwLFxD1sgT

 

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1 hour ago, x99 said:

The GRPress article was good.  It's sort of funny that two articles in a row about houses in HH basically said, "You kinda sorta probably don't want to buy this..."    Ugh.  Do a nice one, for once!  The commercial kitchen would work great for a B&B if it had 10 bedrooms, or you wanted to rent it for corporate events, but those uses are both prohibited.  Makes it a tough sell when the place kitty-corner is bigger, much nicer for residential use, and the same price.  As a sorority house or corporate retreat though, this place would work well.  Maybe Spectrum will buy this one too!  They could call it a "recovery serenity facility" and charge some insurance company like $900 a night per room...  :)  

It's also worth mentioning that this one has a Matterport virtual tour.  If you've never seen one of these things, they're pretty amazing:  https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=kCwLFxD1sgT

 

That is a really cool virtual tour. Honestly, I find this house to be a "bargain" at $575k compared to the one on Madison even if the kitchen needs to be redone. ;)

Joe

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3 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

That is a really cool virtual tour. Honestly, I find this house to be a "bargain" at $575k compared to the one on Madison even if the kitchen needs to be redone. ;)

Joe

True, I suppose.  $165 a foot for a dump is a lot cheaper than $265 a foot for a similar dump, but who's counting?  Money right now seems to be sort of like a good cigar--put a match to it if ya got it!  Well, or hope you can find a sucker who agrees with that proposition... :D

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1 hour ago, x99 said:

True, I suppose.  $165 a foot for a dump is a lot cheaper than $265 a foot for a similar dump, but who's counting?  Money right now seems to be sort of like a good cigar--put a match to it if ya got it!  Well, or hope you can find a sucker who agrees with that proposition... :D

So you are saying the McCabe-Marlow house is a dump? Expensive, maybe. Dump, hell no. 

Joe

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18 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

So you are saying the McCabe-Marlow house is a dump? Expensive, maybe. Dump, hell no. 

Joe

Eh, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  My "dump" factor is in the low six figure sum needed to turn this into a nice, usable house for a family.  It's tired.  By the time you're done with the expensive stuff that actually matters, like kitchens and floors and baths and paint and reclaiming the garage, you're into this place for $800,000 minimum, which is well over $200 a foot.  That's enough juice to buy a really nice custom build, and why I said GRCC or their Foundation or whoever needs a corporate user like Spectrum to bail this one out. 

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20 hours ago, x99 said:

Eh, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  My "dump" factor is in the low six figure sum needed to turn this into a nice, usable house for a family.  It's tired.  By the time you're done with the expensive stuff that actually matters, like kitchens and floors and baths and paint and reclaiming the garage, you're into this place for $800,000 minimum, which is well over $200 a foot.  That's enough juice to buy a really nice custom build, and why I said GRCC or their Foundation or whoever needs a corporate user like Spectrum to bail this one out. 

I changed my mind from my original reply. It does seem a bit overpriced.  I first typed a reply based on a square footage of ~4500 but upon looking at the listing again, see that is only 3500 square ft. above grade.  It is acutally a nice size for a family home in HH but should probably be in the 400k range.  I would say that $110-120 /sq. ft. given how dated the bathrooms are and with a kitchen, while maybe appealing to some folks, probably needs some attention.

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20 hours ago, jas49503 said:

I changed my mind from my original reply. It does seem a bit overpriced.  I first typed a reply based on a square footage of ~4500 but upon looking at the listing again, see that is only 3500 square ft. above grade.  It is acutally a nice size for a family home in HH but should probably be in the 400k range.  I would say that $110-120 /sq. ft. given how dated the bathrooms are and with a kitchen, while maybe appealing to some folks, probably needs some attention.

The highest price per foot last year was $180/ft, and the house was effectively new from top to bottom and basically magazine material.  I tried to find something as challenged as this house, and there was only a huge house on John which is pending at $450, but it is almost twice the size, with a couple of rental units as well.  And that's $73 a foot.  Since this house is smaller, it should go a little higher. Still, that could run it all the way down to around $300k.  I wonder if the Foundation is serious enough about selling to find out...  I wonder if their real estate agent told them... :)  

There's an irony in this:  I'll bet Spectrum paid more for the running track than it would have been worth with houses on it and inside of a "do not demolish" zone.  The same pressures that caused major problems 40 years ago are back again... 

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