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Ronda Tire on Market Ave. sold - what's next?

PR-15

By PR-15
in Grand Rapids

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
Posted
I finally get what you mean by "closed shop" Dad. Interesting comment from Secchia:

"I buy old buildings when they're empty," Secchia said. "I clean them up and I try to keep them in the hands of local people so that out-of-towners won't come in and put something in and around downtown that doesn't fit the concept."

-- http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7368482

So what kind of concept is downtown going for? Sounds like a little bit of entitlement with some downtown property owners.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Posted
Really? I thought it was still available. The parcel to the east is going to be hard for him to get ahold of - i guess if the offer is good enough though...

ETA - i think it's safe to say something is up. We may not hear or see anything for a while, but a few indicators tell me something is up.

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WOT Whistle-Stop

WOT

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How about "Does this have anything to do with your dis-association from the anti-casino group 23 is Enough?", or "Speaking of concepts, do these parcels fit your concept of a casino in downtown Grand Rapids as you suggested earlier this year?" or "Are you buying this property speculatively in advance of a development on Rich Devos' property at Market and Fulton?"
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Yankee Fan Hamlet

Yankee Fan

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Brad Edwards is in Detroit, quickly moving his way to the network. Like anyone actually thought that we could hold on to him in GR for long- he's too good to not get offers in bigger markets.

From what I hear, there is more to this story. I have no specifics, but there have been enough people talking for a while that this is not that surprising.

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starrfish Whistle-Stop

starrfish

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High-larious! :rofl: You're right, it MUST mean something, espeically the bit about the unicycle! Thanks for the laugh! It will be interesting to see what happens...I think there's something in Secchia saying that he just buys old, empty buildings, when Ronda Tire was a longstanding, working business. Why would you say something like that in reference to this deal? Unless he was speaking more generally about his many land deals over the years.

*fish

I saw Duane Faust riding a uni-cycle down Market yesterday. I'm not sure what that means, but it must mean something, right?
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Veloise City

Veloise

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Posted
...I think there's something in Secchia saying that he just buys old, empty buildings, when Ronda Tire was a longstanding, working business. Why would you say something like that in reference to this deal? Unless he was speaking more generally about his many land deals over the years.
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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Posted
In the Freep, Secchia was quoted as saying that GR has more black-tie events than DC. This was the week the GRAM opened, with a white-tie event.

I suspect he generalizes and misspeaks, or perhaps things get misinterpreted between the report's notebook and the final press run.

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NorthEnder Hamlet

NorthEnder

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Posted
Uhh, the quote about keeping other developers out is right from Secchia's mouth in the video:

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7368482

I had been told this very thing by someone in the downtown community recently, but I didn't think it was true (or I thought it was exaggerated).

And does everyone remember the secret emails between Heartwell and Secchia, purportedly in violation of Heartwell's confidentiality agreement, about this very property in question, when Faust was looking at it:

http://www.mlive.com/grpress/grextra/index..._03.html#243882

(March 13th entry)

http://www.localareawatch.org/2007/03/heartwell_shuts.html

This "isolationism" that Secchia is advocating needs to stop. We need new blood, new capital, new companies and new jobs in Grand Rapids. Not a bunch of vacant buildings and parking lots being used as "blocking" techniques for some "concept" being dreamed up by he and others. Do these guys realize that downtown is not theirs?

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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Now, I'm thinking his comments were generally pointed to Duane Faust considering the location of the properties and the RiverGrand "concept." I don't think it was necessarily meant as a blanket comment -- although, it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

Considering the telling comments made by RDV and Secchia in the past few months I don't see why you can't at least entertain the idea that something is up.

http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/inde....xml&coll=6

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Rizzo City

Rizzo

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I don't know, but Secchia had a plan all laid out when he wrote his op-ed piece in the Press back in April:

My hypothetical model is only a personal idea and has not been studied or discussed with anyone. It could be a continuation of the very proud policy we profess in Grand Rapids of public/private partnerships.

My model suggests that no big profit-seeking investors be involved. It could be owned by an authority or a quasi-public entity that pays the local investors only a preferred bond dividend. A board of 21 decision-makers could be appointed by the city (3), the county (3), the investors (3), the county's three largest banks (3), the governor (1), the United Way (1), the churches of West Michigan (1), the Grand Rapids Foundation (1), the Downtown Development Authority (1), the Downtown Alliance (1), the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (1), and Neighborhood Ventures (1). Open seats could be determined in open discussion with the city and county.

The op-ed is gone from the Press' site, but you can find some snippets of it online:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=s...amp;btnG=Search

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blueradon Hamlet

blueradon

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Well I don't know what everyone thinks about a casino - But I'm all for it because you know what - whether people like them or not it provides jobs and it will bring people to the city of Grand Rapids - which could influence people to notice that - oh my gosh - GR has a downtown.

I think with the number of recent property purchases that Secchia has made - I think they've pretty much ended the "end of construction boom" talk by probably preparing for another phase of construction boom from 2010 and on. If they did this all at once it'd be great - but I think once all the medical buildings get situated they want to keep the town's momentum going afterwards.

<insert $0.02>

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