Grand Rapids has community strategy, access to cash, 'can-do' spirit

Grand Rapids this year hosted "West Side Story", the name of the 2008 real estate forum put on each year by the Urban Land Institute and the University of Michigan.

In a feature news story covering the event, Crain's Detroit Business reported to their southeast Michigan readership on the remarkable revitalization effort taking place on the West Coast of the State.

"What has made the situation in Grand Rapids unique", proposed Jim Becker, managing director in the Detroit office of Jones Lang LaSalle, "is the combination of access to capital and a cohesive development plan." Becker continues, "Usually, communities have one or the other, a vision but no investment or a lot of capital and no vision. Grand Rapids is a case study on what can happen when there is an integrated community strategy and a capital strategy."

Read the full story at Crain's Detroit Business