GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Grand Rapids city leaders and residents weighed-in during Tuesday's city commission meeting on plans to redevelop a former industrial site on the city's southeast side into a mixed use development.
The intersection of Sheldon and Wealthy in Grand Rapids has sat vacant for years, but a developer is hoping to spend $17.5 million dollars to transform the property into commercial space and new apartments.
"It's been a vacant piece of ground in our community for some time," said First Ward Commissioner Jon O'Connor.
The developer, W&S Development, LLC, which is an affiliate of Bazzani Building Company and is currently being rebranded as Cella, is hoping to purchase the property at 415 Sheldon Avenue and build two new five-story buildings—each about 25,000 square feet.
"We're very excited to reach this important milestone in our in our project," said Peter Skornia, President of Cella Building Company.
"We've been having ongoing discussions with Mary Free Bed, about the need for housing for their for their employees so this was a perfect opportunity to meet both of those needs," Skornia said.
Under the proposal, one of the buildings will face Wealthy Street and include commercial space and the other will have studios, one, and two bedroom apartments at market-rate.
"I was just concerned about families and we were talking about homelessness, and people needing a place to cover their head," said Third Ward Commissioner Nathaniel Moody.
"It'd be very difficult for a family who really needs a home to be able to stay in this building," Moody said, asking the developer to consider lowering the rates for rent.
Montly market-rates are estimated to be about $1,100 for a studio, $1,500 for a one bedroom and about $2,800 for a two bedroom.
One Grand Rapids resident, DeAndre Jones, spoke during Wednesday's meeting saying while he likes the project, he has some concerns.
"I just wish that it was just more affordable and I just wish that you guys could try to work something out to make it more affordable for people on the south side, because people are tired of struggling," he told the city commission.
O'Connor spoke about how historically many of the low-income housing tax credit projects that have happened in Grand Rapids have been along the South Division corridor between Fulton and Wealthy.
"I think this is an important component of having a diverse neighborhood with diverse housing price points," O'Conner said.
"There hasn't been market-rate housing developed on the South Division corridor to any extent over the course of the last 20 years and so this is an important mix," he said.
The development will be directly across the street from the Tapestry Square Development which includes 50 low-income housing units.
Because the site is a former industrial site, it qualifies for funding from the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
The developer is requesting reimbursement of up to $1.3M for Brownfield eligible activities including demolition, site preparation, and infrastructure improvements.
City commissioners are tentatively set to vote on the project on February 21.