Third Coast In The News

'They're going to keep pushing until they get everybody to sell' Neighbors fight a developer's plans to wipe out their homes for a medical office complex. Chris Knape, The Grand Rapids Press - Grand Rapids, Mich., A.1, Feb 25, 2003

Sylvia and Norman Runyan can imagine looking out the windows of their Union Avenue NE home at big buildings and parking lots instead of houses.

But that prospect is not enough to convince them to sell the place where they raised seven children over the past 30 years.

"We don't want to move," said Sylvia Runyan, 70. "Where would we go? Our house is paid for. We're on Social Security. Where can we live as cheaply as we live here?"

The Runyan home sits on the eastern end of a group of about 40 properties a developer is trying to buy for possible use as a medical office complex.

If the plan goes through, the neighborhood bounded by Int. 196 to the north and Michigan Street to the south between Paris and Union avenues NE would be virtually wiped out.

As it stands, the area is a mixture of rental properties and owner-occupied homes.

Well-kept houses -- some more than 100 years old -- sit next to unkempt homes with peeling paint and boarded windows.

Discarded furniture and trash line some lawns next to homes with closelyminded gardens still evident through the snow.

S.J. Wisinski & Co., a Grand Rapids commercial real estate firm representing the developer, secured options on some of the properties but will not say how many.

The name of the buyer also remains a mystery. Brad Rosely, a sales associate for Wisinski, said the developer has done work in Grand Rapids and Chicago but does not want to be named.

That secret and the methods of acquiring some of the land have angered some like the Runyans.

"You're always better off when you give people a complete story and you give them full disclosure," 2nd Ward City Commissioner Rick Tormala said. "If there's any suspicion, it breeds paranoia and problems."

Many contend offers are well below market value, yet appear large enough to lure some owners into signing sales option agreements.

Brian Lawn, a Neighborhood Watch block captain and long-time renter in the neighborhood, said she wants to make sure older residents get a fair deal if they decide to sell.

"This is prime real estate," said Lawn, who had hoped to buy a home in the neigbhorhood. "These people need to be compensated for their lives."

At an informal meeting Saturday, neighbors considered plans to organize the roughly 45 residents of the region. But it remains unclear whether such a coalition would fight development or work to sweeten the deal.

"Individually, you guys are just going to get picked apart," landlord Marianne Talalay told the gathering of about 10 neighbors. "We have the power to negotiate for every man, woman and child living here."

Kelly Otto, community organizer for the Midtown Neighborhood Association, said any decision would set a precedent for other urban neighborhoods in the path of development.

She added the city of Grand Rapids' future land-use master plan tags the neighborhood for development.

Easy access to Int. 196 and the self-contained nature of the neighborhood targeted for redevelopment make the land enticing, said Brian DeVries, whose Jade Pig Ventures owns several office buildings near the possible development site.

DeVries says his company is not involved in the project but supports redevelopment.

A new medical office complex would be the logical extension of the spinoffs from nearby Spectrum Health Butterworth Campus and the Van Andel Institute in recent years, he said.

"I would love to see them do it, that's for sure," he said. "All it can do is increase the value of property up and down the hill."

Felicia Lambeth does not know what to think. She is the proud owner of the newest house in the area -- a neat tan split-level home corporate executives helped build for Habitat for Humanity last summer.

The way her mortgage is structured, she cannot profit from selling the house, which cost about $75,000 to build.

"If it doesn't go through this time, it may go through next year. I think they're going to keep messing and pushing until they get everybody to sell," she said.

Tearing down Lambeth's house and the other area homes would be a loss for low-income residents, said Pam Doty-Nation, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Kent County.

"We prefer that the project not happen, because it seems like a silly waste of resources," Doty-Nation said. "We suspect there are a number of lower-income people in that neighborhood. Are they going to be able to find adequate housing with what they get for a buyout?"

Some businesses along Michigan Street NE also may need to move.

Debbie Aliya bought the building that houses her engineering firm about a year ago. She since spent several thousand dollars on a new electrical system and fixed a leaking roof.

"I just can't think about the personal disruption it would cause to move the business again," she said. "That's the last thing I want to think about."

Press correspondent Joe Snapper contributed to this report.