Third Coast In The News

Residents challenge NE Side project Developers offer to buy about 45 homes for an office complex. Some homeowners are resisting. Joe Snapper, The Grand Rapids Press - Grand Rapids, Mich. A.1, Feb 20, 2003

Unnamed developers trying to buy about 45 homes for an office complex east of downtown Grand Rapids may be facing an uphill battle -- at least as far as residents are concerned.

"Who the hell wants to get up and move?" resident Bill Kubiak asked during a meeting between neighbors and developers Wednesday night.

Investors represented by Grand Rapids real estate agency S.J. Wisinski & Co. want to demolish the homes, north of Michigan Street just outside the Heritage Hill neighborhood.

The area is bounded by Int. 196 to the north, between Paris and Union avenues.

Agency representatives would not disclose the developers' identities or the precise nature of the project, nor how many homes already have been secured.

Demolition could begin this year if "the planets all line up," said George Calder, sales associate at S.J. Wisinski.

The area is zoned for dense residential use, but would need to be rezoned to accommodate commercial use.

The scale of the project, in terms of homes razed, would be slightly larger than the 40 homes that were removed in 1997 to construct a city parking lot on the West Side of the Grand River, along Summer Avenue NW between Pearl and Douglas streets.

Jay Fowler, an assistant planning director for Grand Rapids, favored the jobs a new development would spawn along Michigan Street, but only "if it makes people happy." Fowler attended Wednesday's meeting, but also said he did not know details of the project.

About 30 residents met with representatives of the Wisinski agency at the Northeast Complex, at Michigan Street and Benson Avenue NE.

"We understand this is a very delicate situation," sales associate Brad Rosely said. Even if all do not agree, he said plans could move ahead with "a contiguous majority" of properties.

Residents in January began receiving phone calls and fliers with offers to buy their homes.

"They're not offering people very much," said Kelly Otto, neighborhood organizer for the Midtown Neighborhood Association. The 19-year-old association includes the homes in question and is roughly centered around the Houseman Field neighborhood.

Although Rosely said the prices represented fair market value, many disputed the claim. Others called on Rosely and Calder to name the developers.

Rosely would say only that the investors worked before in Grand Rapids, but predominantly in Chicago.

"Why is it so secret?" asked Kubiak, 73, who lives at 539 Michigan St. NE and has turned down offers for his home.

"Why is that so important?" Calder asked back.

The answer: The buyer's plans for the land could drive up value, said one property owner at the meeting, who said he is a financial planner and did not want to be identified.

Sylvia Runyon, 70, a 33-year resident of 422 Union Ave. NE, said she was worried about displaced renters.

Tenants comprise 20 percent of the residents, Calder said, adding that real estate agents deal with property owners, not their tenants.

"It's up to them whatever they do with their property," Calder said.

Rosely suggested that displaced tenants could be compensated with 36-inch color televisions.

"What are they going to do, live in the box?" asked Midtown board member Lyle Kaufman.

After the meeting, Calder said most residents are less hostile individually.

"Their one-on-one demeanor is very different than what you saw tonight," Calder said. "We still have pretty good feeling."