Chicago firm releases Grand Rapids real estate report

Chicago firm releases Grand Rapids real estate report
616 Development LLC has announced plans for a handful of new mixed-use residential and retail projects around the city, including the 616 Lofts on Michigan, shown here.

Chicago-based real estate brokerage firm Triad Real Estate Partners released its 2016 Grand Rapids market report yesterday.

The report notes that the Grand Rapids-Wyoming Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) “continues to exhibit some of the strongest economic and multifamily fundamentals of any metro in the entire country.”

Triad’s report says that for the second year in a row asking rents have increased by more than five percent and occupancy levels continue to hover around 98 percent. Employment growth has also increased by more than three percent, according to the report.

Those statistics are leading to a lengthy development pipeline in the multi-family residential space, Triad’s report says.

All told, Triad reports 1,911 housing units at 15 different projects, all at various stages of the development process. That pipeline extends to 2018.

The report notes that the majority of new construction is occurring in downtown and near neighborhoods such as Belknap and the West Side but there are also suburban projects mentioned.