Mold Remediation in Grand Haven, MI

A house in Spring Lake that sold for $2.5 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Grand Haven and Spring Lake in the past week.

In total, 14 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $684,354, or $423 per square foot.

The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Oct. 14 even if the property may have been sold earlier.

10. $410K, single-family residence at 16935 Timber Dunes Drive

The sale of the detached house at 16935 Timber Dunes Drive, Grand Haven, has been finalized. The price was $410,000, and the house changed hands in October. The house was built in 1978 and has a living area of 1,374 square feet. The price per square foot was $298. The deal was finalized on Oct. 8.

9. $435K, single-family home at 14887 177th Street

A sale has been finalized for the single-family home at 14887 177th Street in Grand Haven. The price was $435,000 and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 2001 and the living area totals 1,316 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $331. The deal was finalized on Oct. 8.

8. $510K, condominium at 920 W. Savidge Street

A 2,368 square-foot condominium at 920 W. Savidge Street, Spring Lake, has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $510,000, $215 per square foot. The condominium was built in 2020. The deal was finalized on Oct. 7.

7. $515K, condominium at 14694 Pine Dew Drive

The property at 14694 Pine Dew Drive in Grand Haven has new owners. The price was $515,061. The condominium was built in 2024 and has a living area of 1,672 square feet. The price per square foot is $308. The deal was finalized on Oct. 8.

6. $530K, condominium at 16204 Heron Drive

The sale of a condominium at 16204 Heron Drive in Spring Lake has been finalized. The price was $530,000, and the new owners took over the condominium in October. The condominium was built in 2007 and has a living area of 2,394 square feet. The price per square foot was $221. The deal was finalized on Oct. 4.

5. $600K, condominium at 15001 Copper Court

A 1,588 square-foot condominium at 15001 Copper Court in Grand Haven has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in October and the total purchase price was $599,900, $378 per square foot. The condominium was built in 2018. The deal was finalized on Oct. 7.

4. $625K, condominium at 11 S. First Street

The property at 11 S. First Street in Grand Haven has new owners. The price was $625,000. The condominium was built in 2006 and has a living area of 1,251 square feet. The price per square foot is $500. The deal was finalized on Oct. 9.

3. $715K, single-family house at 1625 Pineridge Drive

The sale of the single-family residence at 1625 Pineridge Drive, Grand Haven, has been finalized. The price was $715,000, and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 1986 and has a living area of 1,712 square feet. The price per square foot was $418. The deal was finalized on Oct. 4.

2. $1.4 million, single-family residence at 18243 N. Shore Estates Road

The sale of the single family residence at 18243 N. Shore Estates Road in Spring Lake has been finalized. The price was $1,350,000, and the new owners took over the house in October. The house was built in 1962 and has a living area of 1,786 square feet. The price per square foot was $756. The deal was finalized on Oct. 8.

1. $2.5 million, single-family house at 19911 N. Shore Drive

The property at 19911 N. Shore Drive in Spring Lake has new owners. The price was $2,500,000. The house was built in 1966 and has a living area of 1,760 square feet. The price per square foot is $1,420. The deal was finalized on Oct. 7.

Real Estate Newswire is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to generate analysis of data from Propmix, an aggregator of national real-estate data.

The Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority approved a plan for a nearly $800 million, three-building project in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. The project will add over one million square feet of new office, hotel, and retail space to a now-vacant property.

The development will occupy over 6 acres along the Grand River at Fulton Street and Market Avenue, including the former Charley’s Crab restaurant site. An incentive package totaling approximately $565.5 million was approved last week, Crains Grand Rapids reported.

A 21-story office tower with around 916,000 square feet is planned. It will be built atop a parking podium with eight floors of vehicle spaces and 13 floors of office space. Construction is expected to start in fall 2025 and be completed in fall 2027.

Plans for a 43-story residential tower include nearly 600 apartments aimed at individuals earning around 150% of the area median income, with monthly expected rental rates between $2,643 and $3,928. The residential tower will become the loftiest building in downtown Grand Rapids, surpassing the current tallest, which belongs to the 34-story luxury condos River House at Bridgewater Place.

Affordable housing is expected to benefit from around $8.5 million in contributions to the Grand Rapids’ affordable housing fund over 20 years, supporting approximately 85 affordable units.

A 27-story hotel and condo tower will feature 76 condos and 130 hotel rooms. It will also be built on a parking structure. The development will include over 2,500 parking spaces and 37,800 square feet of retail space integrated with the parking podiums. These structures are expected to start construction in the summer of 2026 and be completed in the summer of 2029.

Developers plan to improve access to the riverfront, the ability to walk the area, and quality of life by adding public greenspace and walking trails to link neighborhoods and local attractions.

Ron Van Singel, a 44-year resident of Grand Rapids who now lives in Georgia, said the project “could help revitalize the downtown area.” He warmly recalled time spent downtown during Christmas and school field trips. Van Singel recognized the draw of downtown to locals and tourists, including places like the DeVos Place Convention Center and Van Andel Arena.

Van Singel added that he looks forward to seeing rapids back on the Grand River. Grand Rapids WhiteWater is organizing efforts to return the namesake to the river. Rapids disappeared following the building of dams in the 1800s and 1900s. Efforts are underway by the organization to revitalize 2.5 miles of the Grand River with dam removal and river restoration to enhance the sustainability of fish, wildlife, and natural resources. The Lower Reach section of the revitalization water project, which covers Bridge Street to Fulton Street, is expected to begin in July 2025.

The next steps for the 6 acres along the Grand River at Fulton Street and Market Avenue include a public hearing scheduled for November 12 to consider the Transformational Brownfield Plan and an affordable housing agreement. Plans also include seeking state incentives from the Michigan Strategic Fund Board in February 2025.

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Construction activity in West Michigan’s industrial real estate market is coming down a bit from the extraordinary high the sector enjoyed after the COVID-19 pandemic, as developers of new projects still struggle with a lack of buildable land.

Still, market experts say it’s no cause for concern, given the region’s conservative approach to development so far.

“The market was robust for a time after COVID, and the pace has dropped off a bit, but Grand Rapids was never overbuilt in the first place, so we’re at no place of concern,” said Stu Kingma, executive vice president at NAI Wisinski of West Michigan. “We’ve gotten back to what I would say is a normal market.”

Negative absorption of about 227,000 square feet of industrial space in the West Michigan market contributed to a slight increase in the region’s industrial vacancy rate, according to an industrial market report from Colliers International’s West Michigan office. At the end of the third quarter this year, the industrial vacancy rate in West Michigan was at 2.6%, up slightly from 2.4% in the previous quarter, according to Colliers.

This is in line with NAI Wisinski of West Michigan’s third quarter report, which showed an identical 2.6% vacancy rate in industrial property across West Michigan. The southeastern submarket had the highest vacancy rate last quarter at 3.1%, while the southwest region had the lowest vacancy rate at 1%, according to NAI’s report. Advantage Commercial Real Estate places the vacancy rate across West Michigan at a lower 1.9% for the third quarter of the year, tracking a slight uptick from 1.8% vacancy in the previous quarter, according to the brokerage’s most recent report.

Some of the recent sublease activity at industrial properties also can be the first barometer for change in a market sector, Kingma said. Meanwhile, zero new industrial projects were delivered to the market in the second quarter of this year, according to Colliers’ most recent market report.

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Advantage Commercial Real Estate CEO John Kuiper said less industrial construction could be viewed as a positive since most major markets in the U.S. are overbuilt.

“We’re more conservative and we don’t overbuild,” Kuiper said. “Dallas probably has 20 million square feet of vacant industrial product, mostly brand new, whereas our market, the local and regional developers tend to slow down sooner, so there is less building.”

High interest rates this year have also led to a dropoff in speculative industrial builds. However, a steady decrease in rates could bring a return to speculative industrial builds in the region.

PNC Bank expects the Federal Open Market Committee to lower the federal funds rate by 25 basis points over the course of the rest of the year, with more rate cuts next year, according to PNC Bank economists.

“There is a lot of discussion of whether or not we’re in a little bit of a mild recession right now,” Kuiper said. “If that is the case, I think West Michigan is going to come out of it very smoothly and quickly as the overall market corrects itself.”

Kingma and Kuiper also both noted that some of the slowdown in new construction for industrial projects could be attributed to companies and developers waiting until after the election.

Depending on who is elected in November, two different outcomes could emerge for manufacturers as they weigh how they source their goods and what kind of projects they are considering, Kuiper said.

“There is more riding on it this time, and from our conversations with folks, it has caused them to hold back,” Kuiper said. “We’re three weeks out, and at this point if you’re going to make some pretty substantial decisions, it doesn’t really matter if you wait another month.”

Despite some softening in the industrial market, West Michigan is in a healthy place overall, Kingma said. But the lack of developable land is one of the biggest hurdles for new projects in the area, he said.

Kuiper also told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business recently that Microsoft’s purchase of nearly 600 acres across two sites in Kent and Allegan counties contributes to that lack of availability by taking out hundreds of potential developable acres to a single user.

“We’ve really gotten to a point in West Michigan where the lack of industrial land is at a place I haven’t seen before in my 30 years in this industry,” Kingma said.

Kingma noted a need for more zoning and master planning to plot out where communities would support more industrial projects.

Kuiper said he sees a need for the West Michigan market to work collectively on a good plan for zoning, road and utility infrastructure to continue to facilitate “normalized” industrial development, he said.

“It’s been really easy for the last five years to be spotty at it and react to whatever shows up, but for the next five years there has to be a better effort as a general West Michigan marketplace to figure out how to facilitate ongoing and future projects,” Kuiper said. “That will take a lot of collaboration and we’ll see whether or not it will happen in a positive way.”

More from Crain’s Grand Rapids Business:

Microsoft buys a second large property in West Michigan for potential data center

HVAC manufacturer expanding near Grand Rapids to meet data center industry needs

West Michigan Whitecaps move into second phase of $35M ballpark renovation

Microsoft Corp. is now examining at least two large sites totaling nearly 600 acres in West Michigan for potential data centers.

The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant recently acquired 272 acres of property in Dorr Township in Allegan County, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business has learned. That’s in addition to a 316-acre site the company purchased in August in Kent County. The two sites totaling 588 acres are about 12 miles apart.

Microsoft is examining both sites for data center projects as part of the company’s ongoing search for development opportunities in Michigan.

Microsoft worked with economic development organization Lakeshore Advantage Corp. on its most recent property acquisition in Allegan County.

“Lakeshore Advantage welcomes Microsoft Corporation to West Michigan,” Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business via email. “We are pleased to help facilitate growth along the (U.S.) 131 corridor in a community that wants industrial investment and is zoned for it. Microsoft’s investment in Dorr Township aligns with our vision for West Michigan’s Lakeshore Region to be a business and talent magnet.”

A Microsoft representative declined to comment for this story, but said earlier this week that details about a potential data center in Kent County would be forthcoming.

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Microsoft recently closed on two properties along U.S. 131 in Allegan County that included 128 acres on 144th Avenue and 144 acres at 4555 14th St., according to documents filed with the Allegan County Register of Deeds. Microsoft bought the parcels from an entity registered to Duke Suwyn, principal and senior vice president of investment at Advantage Commercial Real Estate, according to a deed filed on Oct. 2.

Advantage Commercial Real Estate CEO John Kuiper said the firm had no ownership in the two Allegan County properties. The Grand Rapids-based real estate brokerage was acting on behalf of a group of investors that decided to buy the property about two years ago as an industrial development opportunity, Kuiper said.

Kuiper said members of the group of investors wish to remain anonymous.

“We agreed that this group should buy it because of the long look forward into developable (industrial) land,” Kuiper said. “I didn’t think anyone ever anticipated that a single user would come along and buy the entire thing. That was never anticipated.”

While the number of industrial properties acquired by a single user have increased, Kuiper said that comes with challenges, such as shrinking available land for industrial projects.

“There is no doubt that it puts a fair amount of stress and only tightens the market for traditional users looking for 20 to 40 acres within our greater Grand Rapids area,” Kuiper said. “It’s not creating more opportunities, it’s creating less.”

Dorr Township Supervisor Jeff Miling said he sees both upsides and downsides of a potential data center along the highway.

“We were a small farming community with a lot of farmland and it’s being swallowed up by developments and businesses,” Miling said. “But as for a tax base and helping out in our community, businesses are a plus and I guess it’s better to see one large business in there than maybe 25 to 30 smaller ones.”

Whether Microsoft builds a data center in Allegan County is still unclear because the company has not yet discussed or presented any plans to the township, Miling said. He believes the site has adequate energy and water infrastructure to support the project.

Microsoft’s potential project could represent the latest investment in the U.S. 131 corridor about 15 to 20 miles south of downtown Grand Rapids. The Dorr Township properties are north of Gun Lake Investments’ corridor redevelopment project in the city and township of Wayland along U.S. 131. Gun Lake Investments is the non-gaming economic development arm of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as Gun Lake Tribe.

GLI’s mixed-use redevelopment plan spans 1,858 acres north of Gun Lake Casino, and is set to include housing, retail/commercial and potentially light industrial.

Three quick-serve commercial projects are expected to open as part of the project from January through June 2025 around Noonday Market, and a 130-unit, low-income housing project with ground-floor retail is anticipated to break ground at the end of 2025.

More from Crain’s Grand Rapids Business:

Microsoft buys 316 acres from Steelcase for potential data center in Kent County

DeVos family office plans coffee shops in Eastown, Byron Center

LGBTQ nightclub to close for renovations, though future remains unclear as building says on the market

Microsoft has acquired hundreds of acres of land outside Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It has also reportedly dropped plans to develop a site in Ohio, and is moving forward with other developments in Virginia and Finland.

Microsoft buys land outside Grand Rapids

– Google Maps

Crain’s reports Microsoft has acquired 316 acres of property in Gaines Charter Township in Kent County, south of Grand Rapids.

The site, on the corner of Patterson Avenue and 76th Street, was acquired from furniture seller Steelcase Inc. for $45.3 million for a potential data center development.

Microsoft has not shared plans for the site and township planning officials said they are yet to meet with Microsoft around any development project in the area.

Randy Thelen, president and CEO of the economic development organization at The Right Place Inc., told Crain’s that the company helped Microsoft assess the property for a potential data center.

“The Right Place is pleased to have helped Microsoft Corporation assess a 315-acre industrial parcel in Gaines Charter Township for a potential data center. The opportunity ahead with Microsoft fits into our 10-year tech strategy to develop the greater Grand Rapids region into a leading tech hub in the Midwest,” Thelen said in a statement to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “With one of the leading tech companies in the world taking notice, we’re well on our way there.”

Michigan is not traditionally known as a major data center hub. Switch has a large campus in the city, while US Signal and Hypercscale Data (previously Sentinum/Ault Alliance) are also present in the region. Detroit also has several other providers present.

Microsoft drops Perry Township plans

Microsoft has dropped plans to develop one site in Ohio.

Lima Ohio reported Microsoft is no longer interested in building an expansive data center in Perry Township. The company has confirmed the news in its Local blog.

“After careful consideration, Microsoft has decided not to pursue the site on Breese Road. We appreciate the community’s engagement as we navigated our decision-making process,” the company said in an October 16 update.

Reports of the project in Stark County first surfaced in June, with Microsoft confirming it was the Fortune 500 company behind the development in August.

– Google Maps

The proposed project would have seen as much as 350 acres along state Route 75 between Breese and Hume Road becoming a data center campus. Microsoft had said up to six buildings could have been developed.

Microsoft had previously said that factors attracting Microsoft to Perry Township and the Lima region included “customer demand, the availability of suitable land, access to power and fiber optics, a quality workforce, and supportive local partners.”

Cindy Leis, president and CEO of Allen Economic Development Group, delivered the news to township residents and officials last week after meeting with Microsoft officials.

“The Microsoft project team’s top three representatives indicated that their boss’s boss, in upper management at Microsoft, made some internal analysis on all the sites being considered,” Leis said Wednesday. “The one in Perry Township didn’t make the cut.”

Microsoft breaks ground in Manassas, looks to develop in Finland

Microsoft has started work on a data center on Hansen Farm Road in Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia.

A recent update said data center construction actually began in May 2024.

The general contractor, Clark Technologies, a division of Clark Construction, is preparing the site by excavating and crushing rock. Early earthworks construction will continue through Fall 2024.

Construction is expected to continue for 18-24 months. The scope of the development hasn’t been shared.

In Finland, the company is moving forward with plans to develop a data center in Vihti.

“The project for construction of Microsoft’s Vihti data center has begun,” Microsoft said in a recent open house event invite.

Microsoft first announced plans for a Finnish cloud region in March 2022. Microsoft is also planning to build data centers in Kirkkonummi and Espoo.

The company acquired the Vihti site in the Rosti Business Park for €12.3 million ($13.3m) last year. Initially comprising one building, the Vihti site could total up to four facilities. The first could go live as soon as 2026.