The city of Grand Rapids has approved a local developer’s plan for a condominium project that would add eight units of housing to a small parcel in East Hills.
The Grand Rapids City Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a special land use request from an affiliate of Grand Rapids-based Construction Simplified to build four duplex condo buildings on a small triangular parcel at 638 E. Fulton St.
The approximately 0.4-acre property is at the corner of Lake Drive in East Hills, on the border with the Midtown and Heritage Hill neighborhoods. It is adjacent to the 0.1-acre Baldwin Park, one of six pocket parks of 0.2 acres or fewer in the city of Grand Rapids.
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The project is led by Brent Gibson, founding partner and president of Construction Simplified, Austin Kettlewell, construction and real estate development partner for the firm, and Kettlewell’s father, Mike Kettlewell.
“We purchased this off another builder in town that didn’t bring it to fruition,” Gibson said Thursday, referring to prior plans to develop the site into apartments by Rockford Construction, whose CEO Mike VanGessel sold the property to the developers for $275,000 in January.
“Knowing it’s a very high-profile location, we wanted to do it right,” Gibson said. “We wanted to do market-rate housing, knowing that for us, it felt better in that corner of the community.”
The condos will be built in a townhome style, with attached garages on the base level that will allow all residents to park within the site rather than using limited street parking.
Gibson said this design was devised in response to neighborhood and planning department staff feedback.
Planning Commissioner Susan Shannon said she is glad to see the long-vacant property, which many neighbors had assumed was part of Baldwin Park, will get new life as housing.
“I used to live a block or so from this site and thought it was an unkept park. … It is good to see infill housing that respects this neighborhood but also provides some of the modern amenities that people are looking for,” she said.
Three individuals spoke during the public hearing on the plan, one of whom had concerns over unit design and density, while the others were supportive.
Andrew Carley, director of outreach for Strong Towns Grand Rapids, said he supports the project and appreciates the inclusion of porches and patios, which he views as important for connecting communities.
“It will be really good to see something starting to be developed in this difficult property and add housing stock,” he said. “(We think) eight units can house, on average, in this area, about 20 people or so. We’d like to see young families moving into these (condos).”
Project details
The partners hope to break ground on the project later this year, with pre-sales likely beginning by the end of 2024. The units are tentatively expected to be marketed in the $500,000-$600,000 range.
The condos would be a mix of two and three bedrooms. Each building would be three stories tall, with a two-car garage on the base level and two levels of living space above.
The units would range from about 1,800 to 2,300 square feet apiece. They would be side-by-side duplexes with three levels each, consisting of a mudroom adjacent to the base-floor garage, living areas and half-bathrooms on the second level, and bedrooms and full bathrooms on the third story.
Plans call for adding a private drive off Fulton Street, with a condo building on each side. The remaining two structures would be behind those buildings, facing Lake Drive. About 30% of the site, including the inner area between buildings, will be reserved as green space. Baldwin Park will remain untouched.
Construction Simplified chose more traditional designs for the condos, with front porches, window trims and roof lines consistent with the surrounding structures. Building heights also will be at similar elevations as the surrounding homes and below the maximum allowable height of 35 feet, according to the project narrative.
Materials and aesthetics would be “elevated from builder grade” to maintain the “charm and character of the neighborhood,” according to the firm’s application filed with the city.
Construction Simplified, which will be the builder for the condos, thus far has also handled design internally. Now that the firm has secured city approvals, the developers plan to hire an architect to take the plans to the next level, Kettlewell previously told Crain’s.
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