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GRLaker

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5 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I'm really surprised the Lowell exit hasn't taken off yet. I know Grooters had all that property listed at one time. The Cedar Springs exit is going gang-busters with Meijer and the usual outcrop of businesses. The Rockford exit has a big new development that is about to start just East of the Meijer. Mixed use (but not really urban in nature). The South end of the metro will stretch with commercial all the way to Wayland here soon. So yes the exurbs are certainly taking off. 

Agreed. Lowell is poised for growth. Great school system, affordable housing, close to the expressway. It’s close to Grand Rapids, but far enough away that it hsgrown up on its own. The downtown has good potential too. I’m surprised the property has listed for years hasn’t been snatched up  it’s a straight shot to the airport.

Joe

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The project at the corner of Crahen and Fulton (where they reconfigured the drive to align with Forest Hill Avenue) is going to be a bank apparently? Not a teller branch but a bank office. I've been trying to find out more but can't find anything .

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On 6/29/2018 at 11:55 AM, GRDadof3 said:

I'm really surprised the Lowell exit hasn't taken off yet. I know Grooters had all that property listed at one time. The Cedar Springs exit is going gang-busters with Meijer and the usual outcrop of businesses. The Rockford exit has a big new development that is about to start just East of the Meijer. Mixed use (but not really urban in nature). The South end of the metro will stretch with commercial all the way to Wayland here soon. So yes the exurbs are certainly taking off. 

No sewer or municipal water out by the interchange. It will have to come from Lowell. It's an expensive proposition.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Hudson Center in Hudsonville is taking shape. Interesting comment in the link says "there is outside interest in constructing additional buildings in downtown Hudsonville. That is all we can say at this point!"

 

It would be nice if Hudsonville could develop a downtown on Chicago Drive like Grandville but obviously the train tracks make that difficult, if not impossible. I'm excited to see how it all plays out in the future. 

Edited by LaMas
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3 hours ago, LaMas said:

The Hudson Center in Hudsonville is taking shape. Interesting comment in the link says "there is outside interest in constructing additional buildings in downtown Hudsonville. That is all we can say at this point!"

 

It would be nice if Hudsonville could develop a downtown on Chicago Drive like Grandville but obviously the train tracks make that difficult, if not impossible. I'm excited to see how it all plays out in the future. 

Agreed. Hudsonville and its surrounding Georgetown Twp areas in Hudsonville schools are a large suburb with a middle of nowhere country town downtown feel. I have never been a fan of it. If they could turn that around, that would be great.

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Has anyone been out to Jenison lately? They are currently working on Cottonwood by expanding it to have a turn lane down the full road and having two left-hand turn lanes instead of the one that has resulted in massive backups. I wonder if this will open Jenison up to development between Cottonwood/Fillmore and the Grand River with all of those gravel pits there. That would be some prime real estate if it doesn't have any flooding issues.

 

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On 8/10/2018 at 10:42 AM, GRLaker said:

Has anyone been out to Jenison lately? They are currently working on Cottonwood by expanding it to have a turn lane down the full road and having two left-hand turn lanes instead of the one that has resulted in massive backups. I wonder if this will open Jenison up to development between Cottonwood/Fillmore and the Grand River with all of those gravel pits there. That would be some prime real estate if it doesn't have any flooding issues.

 

There are long term plans to develop those parcels. I think Cedar Valley Development owns those? Probably a continuation of the Cedar Lake development would be my guess. 

Edit: the gravel pits are owned by Huizenga Gravel, Cedar Valley owns the land to the West where Fillmore straightens out and heads west. 

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On 8/10/2018 at 6:02 PM, GRDadof3 said:

There are long term plans to develop those parcels. I think Cedar Valley Development owns those? Probably a continuation of the Cedar Lake development would be my guess. 

Edit: the gravel pits are owned by Huizenga Gravel, Cedar Valley owns the land to the West where Fillmore straightens out and heads west. 

So the left circle is open for development while the right will remain gravel company for some time.

55771AF3-3DFF-4FA4-99F0-5C7698DB5D81.jpeg

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1 hour ago, GRLaker said:

So the left circle is open for development while the right will remain gravel company for some time.

55771AF3-3DFF-4FA4-99F0-5C7698DB5D81.jpeg

I don't know the exact plans because I haven't seen anything in the Georgetown Twp's website but my guess is the area on the left owned by Cedar Valley will be developed first before the area on the right. But some insiders out there who live in that area may have heard other rumors. 

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57 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

I don't know the exact plans because I haven't seen anything in the Georgetown Twp's website but my guess is the area on the left owned by Cedar Valley will be developed first before the area on the right. But some insiders out there who live in that area may have heard other rumors. 

If the whole river dredging project goes through, it would be cool to see a residential-commercial development here that makes use of the new boat traffic going between the lake and downtown. Homes surrounding the two new lakes there along with dining establishments lined with docks on the river. It's really the best place for a mid-way point because it takes advantage of the furthest west densely populated suburb that borders the river to ensure it has plenty of auto traffic going to it as well.

Edited by GRLaker
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56 minutes ago, thebeerqueer said:

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/new-restaurant-stores-coming-to-woodland-mall/1383068205

In case you're interested in paying to cook your own dinner and shop for fast fashion. 

 

 

PREIT is really giving new life to a dying retail concept. I wish they would buy Rivertown and turn that mall around as well.

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10 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Ulta, Old Navy, Five Below, Bath and Body Works joining TJ Max at Knapp’s Crossing. I think woodland stole all of the good tenants. :)

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/08/construction_underway_for_new.html

You're right, the makeup of this development has dramatically changed since its inception.  Also, the mlive comments are actually pretty spot on in regards to the announcement.  

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14 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Ulta, Old Navy, Five Below, Bath and Body Works joining TJ Max at Knapp’s Crossing. I think woodland stole all of the good tenants. :)

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/08/construction_underway_for_new.html

What a nightmare for this development. Quite honestly, the potential for this area was way higher for high-end retail than Woodland. Yet, PREIT managed to beat this developer out for everything he had envisioned. This announcement would be the kind of thing I would expect to see if someone was developing a strip mall in Jenison or Hudsonville - not the heart of the Forest Hills retail center.

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1 hour ago, GRLaker said:

What a nightmare for this development. Quite honestly, the potential for this area was way higher for high-end retail than Woodland. Yet, PREIT managed to beat this developer out for everything he had envisioned. This announcement would be the kind of thing I would expect to see if someone was developing a strip mall in Jenison or Hudsonville - not the heart of the Forest Hills retail center.

Next PF Chang's will probably move across the street to be closer to the theater.  Mark my words.

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8 hours ago, GRLaker said:

What a nightmare for this development. Quite honestly, the potential for this area was way higher for high-end retail than Woodland. Yet, PREIT managed to beat this developer out for everything he had envisioned. This announcement would be the kind of thing I would expect to see if someone was developing a strip mall in Jenison or Hudsonville - not the heart of the Forest Hills retail center.

On the contrary, it's not the heart of Forest Hills. If you look at census data, median income and educational levels West of the Beltline in this area drop dramatically from the Ada/Cascade corridor, and is mostly Northview School District.  The heart of Forest Hills, demographically, is more like Cascade Road and Spaulding down to Cascade Road and old 28th. Downtown Ada is not really, but Amway aims to change that. 

The market strength for 28th and East Beltline is still stronger than East Beltline and Knapp, and the strongest in the metro area. 

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Not sure where else to put this, and I don't know if anybody else has brought it up, but there is a large development of townhomes going up on Spaulding just north of Cascade Road.

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This morning there was a truck or two sitting in front of every single garage door, they are moving pretty fast on these. The website doesn't have much info on the units, or rather any info: www.knolltownhomes.com

And just south of Cascade Road also on Spaulding a lot of land has been cleared on the west side of the street, I'm guessing for another housing development much like this one.

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48 minutes ago, mielsonwheels said:

Not sure where else to put this, and I don't know if anybody else has brought it up, but there is a large development of townhomes going up on Spaulding just north of Cascade Road.

image.thumb.png.c863faa40093d99afedafa6ed9f06d3a.png

image.thumb.png.f4de6d0225199f8cf0dcc3c51bb3b3e6.png

This morning there was a truck or two sitting in front of every single garage door, they are moving pretty fast on these. The website doesn't have much info on the units, or rather any info: www.knolltownhomes.com

And just south of Cascade Road also on Spaulding a lot of land has been cleared on the west side of the street, I'm guessing for another housing development much like this one.

The traffic that this development adds is going to make the foobar intersection at Cascade road/Spaulding/Cascade road/Hall even more fun.  

The cleared area behind the former Founders Bank is for senior housing and memory care living places.  Coupled with the senior housing being built on the site of the old Y on Forest Hill Avenue, they might as reduce the speed limit to 15 on the roads around there.  It’s going to be a nightmare when you add a bunch of old farts who can barely see over the steering wheel to the already challenging road design clusterf’s at the aforementioned Cascade Road and Spaulding area as well as up by the highway with its genius level configuration of five traffic lights on a quarter mile in a heavily trafficked roadway.

Also note that a sign is posted next to the Kootsier’s Greenhouse driveway for another new housing development being planned.  Apparently further back in the open area behind Kootsier’s.

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42 minutes ago, wingbert said:

The traffic that this development adds is going to make the foobar intersection at Cascade road/Spaulding/Cascade road/Hall even more fun.  

The cleared area behind the former Founders Bank is for senior housing and memory care living places.  Coupled with the senior housing being built on the site of the old Y on Forest Hill Avenue, they might as reduce the speed limit to 15 on the roads around there.  It’s going to be a nightmare when you add a bunch of old farts who can barely see over the steering wheel to the already challenging road design clusterf’s at the aforementioned Cascade Road and Spaulding area as well as up by the highway with its genius level configuration of five traffic lights on a quarter mile in a heavily trafficked roadway.

Also note that a sign is posted next to the Kootsier’s Greenhouse driveway for another new housing development being planned.  Apparently further back in the open area behind Kootsier’s.

Can we not disparage the elderly and their driving behavior. lol.

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