Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. Planning Manager Tim Kelly emails a weekly GR Forward update to the project Steering Committee. Here's this week's communication:

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I hope this week’s email finds you well. The Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. team attended the International Downtown Association’s conference in Detroit this week, which is why your GR Forward update is coming a couple days later than normal.

In addition to learning from our colleagues in other cities, our focus this week has been putting finishing touches on the draft GR Forward document which is scheduled to be available at the end of the week. We are very much looking forward to sharing it with all of you and moving into the public comment and review phase of this process.

As part of that process, and as I mentioned previously, we have scheduled presentations to the Downtown Development Authority Board, and the Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. Board of Advisors on July 8 and 9 respectively. We welcome anyone from the public to attend those meetings to hear an in depth presentation on all of the work that has been done during this process. We have also confirmed a presentation to the Planning Commission on July 23, and hope to be in front of the City Commission shortly thereafter. I will be sure to keep you all posted on the presentation schedule, but check out our other communication channels (website, social media, etc.) for the latest news as well.

Web Numbers

The latest web and social media numbers are below. Be sure to continue to share the links below in your network so everyone can stay up to date with GR Forward activities.

Resources

Two interesting reports on local trends this week.

Frist, as I am sure many of you saw, the Grand Rapids-Wyoming MSA was ranked 3rd in the nation for economic growth in a report from Area Development.

Among the areas that resulted in such a strong showing are the growing biotech and healthcare industries, the pro-business environment, and the diverse manufacturing base. Additionally, the report cites that population growth has exceeded expectations due to “the booming downtown that helps retain more college graduates”, and investment in life science fuels faster income growth.

In addition, this week Chris Leinberger, a renowned urban economist and previous participant in the Downtown Speaker Series, released a report called The WalkUP Wake-Up Call: Michigan Metros, a collaborative research study with The George Washington University School of Business, Michigan State University Land Policy Institute, LOCUS Smart Growth America, among others.

The research was conducted to show real estate trends occurring in seven of Michigan’s largest metro areas. Collectively, those seven metros represent 64% of the state’s population, and 74% of state’s GDP. All told, the research evaluated the trends associated with a total of 5.3 Billion SF of total space within the seven metro areas. The research is intended to be a guidebook to mayors, developers, and planners on where real estate development in the future, as evidenced by market-based trends, is going to take place.

Downtown Grand Rapids receives many favorable marks in the report, including a ranking of Gold for economic factors, and Platinum (the highest category) for social equity. Downtown Grand Rapids also got special recognition in the report, being identified as “perhaps the best example of a Walkable Urban Place in the state of Michigan.”

While there is still plenty of work to be done, especially in the area of adding population density in urban centers across Michigan, it is encouraging to see others take notice of the great things happening around the State, and especially at the local level.

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, I hope you have a great week.