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Parade of Downtown Living

Beavis

By Beavis
in Grand Rapids

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Beavis Whistle-Stop

Beavis

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Good morning everyone -

I was wondering if any of you are planning on doing the Parade of Downtown Living tour this weekend? It would be fun to chat in person since we're all so interested in the development of GR.

Hope to bump into some of you...

Beavis

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mgreven Hamlet

mgreven

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Can someone tell me if it is $10 per location or does $10 get you in to all of the different condo's/lofts? I want to check out "The Fitzgerald"!

Last year, $10 got you into all of them. I wish I could go again, it was fun! Plus, you can pretty much walk or shuttle to the sites. Sure beats driving all over suburbia for the Parade of Homes!

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starrfish Whistle-Stop

starrfish

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So, there's one day left for the Parade of Downtown Living - it's open tomorrow 11A-3P. It was definitely worth it. My mom is casually looking at buying, so from that perspective it was nice to be able to look in a very low key way.

Loved the old and new details at Union Square, but probably wouldn't want to buy in such a large building - 172 units, hello! The Fitzgerald model is really cool - but also really "grown up" feeling.

The cool thing about the tour - we caught Jon Rooks at Boardwalk, had a nice chat with him. And Sam Cummings gave us a personal guided tour of the model at Hillmount, plus walked us through a yet to be done unit down the hall.

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civitas Burg

civitas

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It seems that the great majority of residential projects are condominiums (home ownership) and in fairly large projects. They also seem to all be expensive in both initial purchase price and monthly fees.

Is there a need (market) for lower price options? To get prices down there would be less amenities and smaller units, but what is the definition of "cool" for a $150,000 or less condominium?

How about rental options in urban areas. Wouldn't it be better to live in an apartment on a second floor in Gaslight Village than in an apartment project on Alpine?

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twoshort Town

twoshort

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The cool thing about the tour - we caught Jon Rooks at Boardwalk, had a nice chat with him. And Sam Cummings gave us a personal guided tour of the model at Hillmount, plus walked us through a yet to be done unit down the hall.

My wife and I found Sam to be much more personable than John, John couldn't have cared if we were there or not... but it was cool to talk to both of them.

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twoshort Town

twoshort

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i thought I should give a quick review as well. I saw union square last year.. so no big news there. The place did look like it had a lot of work to be done. The fitzgerald was VERY nice, and it carried the price tag to go along with it. It was a lot more 'grown up' than most of the other places. I was probably most impressed by the boardwalk. The models were very cool and very well priced. The studio model was set up nicely, but I thought it was over priced. 109k for the studio, plus 10k if you want to finish the roof deck. I guess it was mostly because of the river view as other studios start much lower. They had a lot of models done with a wide range of finishes. They even had a 'basic' kitchen showing what comes without extra cost which most other places don't do.

The models at hilmount were a lot better than last year too. They showed a lot of cool options. City view didn't have thier penthouse being shown like last year so that was a big dissapointment. Does anyone know if they actually sold that place??

The coolest part of the tour was going to the top of the bridgewater place on Varnum's patio. I'm glad I was able to see those views, it's not something everyone gets the opportunity to do without some law school :).

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Did anyone else find the Fitzgerald patio area to be a little strange? I kept thinking "Boy, I hope it doesn't rain". If you didn't see it, they basically took a 12 x 12 or so corner area of the building and took the windows right out, and then separated that space from the rest of the unit with exterior french doors. One going into the Living Room and one into the MBR. It was way cool, but hard to absorb mentally. It would take a lot for me to get used to it. Having the views of the Civic Theatre and the back of the People's Building framed by 12' arched windows is priceless.

The model was $485,000, and looked it. Another interesting extra is the additional parking spaces they are selling for $25,000 (you get one space included) They are going to be in an automated garage, just like the German one that civitas posted not long ago.

Several women on the tour in the Boardwalk complained that you can't get to the community rooftop deck with heals on, and then if you take your shoes off, the industrial metal stairs have points that dig into your feet. No formal cocktail parties up there. Flip-flops or sandals only apparently.

J

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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How about rental options in urban areas. Wouldn't it be better to live in an apartment on a second floor in Gaslight Village than in an apartment project on Alpine?

I'm pretty much looking for a studio apartment downtown in the $300 range. I know of a few in the suburbs, but nothing downtown.

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Beavis Whistle-Stop

Beavis

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It seems that the great majority of residential projects are condominiums (home ownership) and in fairly large projects. They also seem to all be expensive in both initial purchase price and monthly fees.

Is there a need (market) for lower price options? To get prices down there would be less amenities and smaller units, but what is the definition of "cool" for a $150,000 or less condominium?

How about rental options in urban areas. Wouldn't it be better to live in an apartment on a second floor in Gaslight Village than in an apartment project on Alpine?

There is definitely a need for lower price options. I was impressed with the Boardwalk and am planning on meeting with them for more in-depth info. Rooks was reasonably pleasant. I am somewhat leery but it's at least worth talking to them. Since they're the first to really come in downtown with price points starting at $69K I think the lower priced units will sell fast. I do think developers will eventually realize "normal" people are not able to afford $200K+ - and most single people such as myself really need under $100K to be realistic. I don't want to be sitting in a new condo not able to go out to dinner with friends or on vacation once in awhile because I'm broke. Though I am talking with Boardwalk, I will probably hold off for a year or two to see what else develops. I really think Heartside has tremendous potential and have met many of the artists living there now. It has much more of a real neighborhood feel to me and having been homeless, I actually talk to and relate with the street people living there so that wouldn't be a problem - would just need to escort my family and friends to and from their cars.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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There is definitely a need for lower price options. I do think developers will eventually realize "normal" people are not able to afford $200K+ - and most single people such as myself really need under $100K to be realistic.

Hate to break it to everyone, but that average price of over $200,000 is being driven totally by cost, not because developers don't want to sell lower priced units. The only reason the Boardwalk's prices are low is because the renovation of that factory (Berkey & Gay) was heavily subsidized by the federal government through historic tax credits back in 2001, hence the low prices today for Rooks to make a profit. A 4 - 500,000 square foot building built new today like that would be at least quadruple the price.

Some of the projects have units starting under $200K, like Icon starts in the $150's and Tall House starts in the $180's.

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