The Right Place publishes report highlighting opportunities, trends, and insights on region’s development sector

Following the success of its annual Developer Day event last month, Grand Rapids area economic development agency The Right Place, Inc. has published a 20-page Development Report that analyzes West Michigan’s industrial, office, retail, and housing development sectors.

“This year, we hosted over 150 developers, designers, architects, engineers, Realtors, bankers, and builders at our Developer Day event, which indicates the strong interest in the Greater Grand Rapids Market,” said Tim Mroz, Senior Vice President of Community Development, The Right Place, Inc. “The Greater Grand Rapids real estate development market continues to surprise outside developers and investors. The region is showing up on the radar of more and more firms across the Midwest.”

Much of the report provides four-year trends in development in each of the development focus areas. The Right Place was able to aggregate third-party reports from data partners such as Colliers, JLL, Grand Rapids Regional Alliance of Realtors, and NAI Wisinski, as well as firsthand information gathered by the organization, to provide a more comprehensive view of the development ecosystem in the region.

“We built this report not just to provide research and education to the development community, but also to be used to spur new development in the future,” Mroz added.

Notable takeaways from the report include:

• Although the past year has been challenging across the nation for real estate development, especially on the capital raise and financing stages of development, this year has seen progress on several cityscape-level projects in Greater Grand Rapids.

• The industrial market remains strong with high demand for build-ready sites, while the office and retail markets show renewed activity amid a challenging environment.

• The residential housing sector continues to face a shortfall of available units across all levels of housing, providing ample demand for development.

• Given the current challenges, Greater Grand Rapids continues to offer a dynamic and opportunity-rich market for development in several real estate sectors.

The full report was recently distributed to Developer Day participants. A PDF version can be found on the Right Place website: www.rightplace.org/developmentreport