GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Planning for a massive redevelopment in Gaslight Village is back underway, and on Tuesday the East Grand Rapids Planning Commission saw for the first time what the group Gaslight Investors LLC. is planning for the properties on Lakeside Drive and Wealthy Street.
"20 years later, we're back trying to finish what we started," said Scott Wierda of Gaslight Investors, LLC.
While the commission didn't vote on anything related to the project, it was their chance to see what the future of Gaslight Village could look like.
It'll include 9 buildings, two already constructed, with commercial and residential buildings as well as a parking garage.
"We were originally approved this," said Wierda. "This was something that we acquired after Jacobson's Department Store went bankrupt."
180 new residential units could be added to the busy downtown area, something some residents touched on during public comment.
"I really want to see some assurances that we would have maybe three-bedroom units that we could bring our younger families in so they can kind of break into the East Grand Rapids market," said a neighbor during public comment.
And for neighbors like Josh Sweatt, the redevelopment is something to keep looking into.
"It'd be nice to just have something like kind of more usable there, rather than the open field," said Sweatt. "Definitely want to make sure that, like, traffic is safe and everything, because we run and bike a lot, and so just making sure that cars are conscious of the pedestrians and everything would be definitely a high priority I would say."
The planning commission approved a plan to hold a public hearing on the development at a meeting in July.
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