Patterson Ave

[arcturus]

Leaving Home Depot today my attention was brought to an OLD guy slowly walking up the drive to a solitary house that looks even older just south of the Home Depot - Patterson entrance.  It struck me just how much empty land is on that side, all the way down to pretty much 36th, in contrast to the developed east side of Patterson.

Is this a 'holdout' story, old landfill, riparian, etc as this property must be worth quite a bundle.

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, arcturus said:

Leaving Home Depot today my attention was brought to an OLD guy slowly walking up the drive to a solitary house that looks even older just south of the Home Depot - Patterson entrance.  It struck me just how much empty land is on that side, all the way down to pretty much 36th, in contrast to the developed east side of Patterson.

Is this a 'holdout' story, old landfill, riparian, etc as this property must be worth quite a bundle.

https://books.google.com/books?id=P7k1AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA65&ots=1iGXBnYlXd&dq=2933 patterson avenue%2C grand rapids%2C mi&pg=PA65#v=onepage&q=2933 patterson avenue, grand rapids, mi&f=false

[wmrharris]

Way back, I remember the barn and active agriculture on the site. I thought I had read it was owned by the city of Kentwood.

[GRLaker]

1 hour ago, arcturus said:

Leaving Home Depot today my attention was brought to an OLD guy slowly walking up the drive to a solitary house that looks even older just south of the Home Depot - Patterson entrance.  It struck me just how much empty land is on that side, all the way down to pretty much 36th, in contrast to the developed east side of Patterson.

Is this a 'holdout' story, old landfill, riparian, etc as this property must be worth quite a bundle.

I believe that's farm land. Then everything west of it is Plaster Creek flood zone.

[getemngo]

Quite amazing that it's the Patterson farm! That's the only house left on Patterson between 28th and 60th. (There are still a few between Burton and 28th.) I've watched Broadmoor suffer a similar fate - even 12 or 15 years ago, it had maybe 3-4 houses left per mile south of 36th, and now I think there are two between 36th and M-6 that haven't been demolished, abandoned, or converted to businesses, with some of the abandonment reaching as far south as Kraft.

The Grand Rapids Press did an amazing article maybe 10 years ago about all the houses still standing on 28th Street (most are between Byron Center and Burlingame) and several of the people living in them, but I can't seem to find it.

[joeDowntown]

27 minutes ago, getemngo said:

Quite amazing that it's the Patterson farm! That's the only house left on Patterson between 28th and 60th. (There are still a few between Burton and 28th.) I've watched Broadmoor suffer a similar fate - even 12 or 15 years ago, it had maybe 3-4 houses left per mile south of 36th, and now I think there are two between 36th and M-6 that haven't been demolished, abandoned, or converted to businesses, with some of the abandonment reaching as far south as Kraft.

The Grand Rapids Press did an amazing article maybe 10 years ago about all the houses still standing on 28th Street (most are between Byron Center and Burlingame) and several of the people living in them, but I can't seem to find it.

I love that farmhouse and the barns around the property. It is pretty amazing that is THE Patterson farm. Very interesting.

Joe

[arcturus]

Fascinating.  A 116 yr old house next to Home Depot, a slice of Americana. 

[Raildude's dad]

I talked to him back in 1987 when the Road Commission widened Patterson. He walked across the street every day to work in the cemetery. He has no interest in selling the family farm. It's worth quite a bit of money as is according to the assessed values.. He has to be in his 90's by now.

[GRDadof3]

5 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

I love that farmhouse and the barns around the property. It is pretty amazing that is THE Patterson farm. Very interesting.

Joe

Isn't it fascinating, I had no idea. Now that I know that, it seems like it should be preserved greenspace somehow. Maybe even a Kent Count Park with some of the farm structures preserved (like Roselle Park). Better than another big box retailer or car dealership or Grooters White Box. 

[Guest]

I drive by that area a lot and have wondered the same thing.  I figured it was owned by the city for additional cemetery space.  That plot of land is absolutely massive.  I always think of how it would be a nice area for dense(r) apartments.  Maybe mixed use?  Just looking on google earth, you could almost fit the entire Woodland and Centerpointe complexes in that one area.

[getemngo]

1 hour ago, Floyd_Z said:

I drive by that area a lot and have wondered the same thing.  I figured it was owned by the city for additional cemetery space.  That plot of land is absolutely massive.  I always think of how it would be a nice area for dense(r) apartments.  Maybe mixed use?  Just looking on google earth, you could almost fit the entire Woodland and Centerpointe complexes in that one area.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Kentwood has put some restrictions in place in an attempt to reduce construction of new apartments? The city is not a fan of their "Rentwood" reputation.

If it ever gets developed, I would put my money on either industrial use or single family homes.

[GRDadof3]

7 minutes ago, getemngo said:

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Kentwood has put some restrictions in place in an attempt to reduce construction of new apartments? The city is not a fan of their "Rentwood" reputation.

If it ever gets developed, I would put my money on either industrial use or single family homes.

Speaking as a pro-development person, I think that would be an absolute tragedy. People are moving to this area, in part, because of our growing multitude of recreational amenities. This property is almost 170 acres total I believe and would not be that great of a single-family home development (see Planters Row in Byron Center if you need an example of single family blandness), particularly being in Kentwood School District. And industrial? Put that out by M-6/Broadmoor. 

What that area lacks is large green spaces and parks. There are quite a few being developed over in the Georgetown/Allendale area but not in the Cascade/Kentwood area. I'll bet the backwoods area would make for some wicked mountain biking trails. 

As I mentioned, I'd hope that there was some way that Kent County could pick it up. Maybe Peter Secchia has some more money sitting around...

 

[GRLaker]

1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

Speaking as a pro-development person, I think that would be an absolute tragedy. People are moving to this area, in part, because of our growing multitude of recreational amenities. This property is almost 170 acres total I believe and would not be that great of a single-family home development (see Planters Row in Byron Center if you need an example of single family blandness), particularly being in Kentwood School District. And industrial? Put that out by M-6/Broadmoor. 

What that area lacks is large green spaces and parks. There are quite a few being developed over in the Georgetown/Allendale area but not in the Cascade/Kentwood area. I'll bet the backwoods area would make for some wicked mountain biking trails. 

As I mentioned, I'd hope that there was some way that Kent County could pick it up. Maybe Peter Secchia has some more money sitting around...

 

Patterson Farm Park does have a nice ring to it. With the creek there, it's perfect for a hiking/biking area much like Mill Race in Grandville on an old farm and the Ravines park in Allendale on an old farm.

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, GRLaker said:

Patterson Farm Park does have a nice ring to it. With the creek there, it's perfect for a hiking/biking area much like Mill Race in Grandville on an old farm and the Ravines park in Allendale on an old farm.

It would also make an excellent spot for a large soccer facility. I hear there's a shortage in West Michigan and we're the only metro of our size with no major soccer tournament facility. Right @joeDowntown?

[RegalTDP]

I love driving by there.  it's such a pristine rolling meadow.

That land abuts the back end of rental properties on East Paris Ave. and there's a metric butt-ton of apartment complexes in the area.  Almost zero city park space.  Playing ball in the grass next to the parking lot outside your apartment isn't the same thing.

[wingbert]

If it gets developed, I'm sure they will drop the speed limit on Patterson to account for the increased traffic and driveways and that would suck.  55 MPH on that road is one of the few joys of driving within the greater metro area.  

And GRDad is correct.  There is a major shortage of soccer practice and game space in the area - although I don't know if the slope of this particular property lends itself too well to that purpose.  However, keeping it some form of green space should priority #1.  

[RegalTDP]

One more thing about this - Kentwood (with help from the County) has done a lot of work on its bike trails the past ten years, and the network that's in place now is pretty awesome.  According to the city website, they have proposed a trail along Plaster Creek (The green dotted line on this map below), along with some proposed parks off Shaffer Ave, that could connect the neighborhoods south of 44th with the neighborhoods to the north.  I could easily imagine a connector trail from Plaster Creek, with a long bridge over Broadmoor, over to East Paris Ave, and then a widened sidewalk along East Paris that could go all the way to Burton or Sparks/Forest Hill Ave, not to mention a link to our envisioned Patterson Farm Park.

^^^This map is from the city website.

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, RegalTDP said:

One more thing about this - Kentwood (with help from the County) has done a lot of work on its bike trails the past ten years, and the network that's in place now is pretty awesome.  According to the city website, they have proposed a trail along Plaster Creek (The green dotted line on this map below), along with some proposed parks off Shaffer Ave, that could connect the neighborhoods south of 44th with the neighborhoods to the north.  I could easily imagine a connector trail from Plaster Creek, with a long bridge over Broadmoor, over to East Paris Ave, and then a widened sidewalk along East Paris that could go all the way to Burton or Sparks/Forest Hill Ave, not to mention a link to our envisioned Patterson Farm Park.

^^^This map is from the city website.

Now you're talking!!

Even if Patterson isn't interested in selling the land now, he can place it into a preservation trust with Kent County to be developed as parkland down the road. There are some early discussions about a "parks" millage request down the road in a few years. I think it's badly needed. There are a lot of great Kent County Parks but Millennium Park is seeing the bulk of the investment right now (mostly because of donations, but other parks need upgrading). 

[joeDowntown]

On 10/5/2016 at 9:15 PM, GRDadof3 said:

It would also make an excellent spot for a large soccer facility. I hear there's a shortage in West Michigan and we're the only metro of our size with no major soccer tournament facility. Right @joeDowntown?

Yes indeed. For anyone involved in youth soccer, Grand Rapids is YEARS behind other cities (metro Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Holland, heck, Saginaw has one of the best facilities for soccer fields). Huge youth sport, very hard to find available fields, and yet GR has nothing in the way of a large facility (more than 3 fields in one location). For comparison, Saginaw has a township run soccer complex with 22 full size fields in one location. And it's actually a pretty big revenue generator for the city (hotels, restaurants, etc). West Michigan Sports Commission should take a serious look at a soccer complex. 

Off my soapbox  

Joe

[Pattmost20]

On 10/6/2016 at 9:21 PM, joeDowntown said:

Yes indeed. For anyone involved in youth soccer, Grand Rapids is YEARS behind other cities (metro Detroit, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Holland, heck, Saginaw has one of the best facilities for soccer fields). Huge youth sport, very hard to find available fields, and yet GR has nothing in the way of a large facility (more than 3 fields in one location). For comparison, Saginaw has a township run soccer complex with 22 full size fields in one location. And it's actually a pretty big revenue generator for the city (hotels, restaurants, etc). West Michigan Sports Commission should take a serious look at a soccer complex. 

Off my soapbox  

Joe

http://www.wbbl.com/the-huge-show/ Listen to the segment with Matt Roberts, president of GRFC. He is trying to get people together to create a giant Soccer facility in West Michigan to host youth tournaments.

[WMrapids]

I always thought the old GM stamping plant on 36th would be a good place for something large like a stadium or something large like it. The SilverLine isn't that far from there being an access to Grand Rapids, it also near "downtown" Wyoming and is down 44th Street from the airport.

[joeDowntown]

22 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

http://www.wbbl.com/the-huge-show/ Listen to the segment with Matt Roberts, president of GRFC. He is trying to get people together to create a giant Soccer facility in West Michigan to host youth tournaments.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to reach out to Matt.

Joe