New owner eyes more affordable housing units after purchasing 234 Market for $50M

New owner eyes more affordable housing units after purchasing 234 Market for $50M

GRAND RAPIDS — A mixed-use building with 235 market-rate apartments in downtown Grand Rapids was recently sold for more than $50.7 million, and the buyer hopes to make at least dozens of units more affordable. 

Grand Rapids-based property management company Eenhoorn LLC purchased the mixed-use building at 234 Market Ave. SW on Sept. 30 from East Lansing-based Krimson LLC, formerly Maplegrove Property Management LLC.

According to 234 Market Apartment’s website, just a few apartments in the building are currently available. The building also includes shared amenities such as a courtyard, fitness center, parking garage and ground floor retail space. Maplegrove Property Management broke ground on the $56.5 million project in 2016, and was awarded $10.9 million in incentives from the Michigan Strategic Fund at the time.

Eenhoorn is working closely with the city of Grand Rapids and Housing Next Executive Director Ryan Kilpatrick on a program to voluntarily reserve up to 20 percent of the units in the building for tenants earning between 80 to 90 percent of the area median income. 

“The 234 Market project presented a unique opportunity to materialize our passion and pledge to help address the housing issues Grand Rapids is facing,” Eenhoorn Co-founder Paulus Heule told MiBiz via email. “It is our experience that many of the wage earners in the 80-90 percent (area median income) bracket are caught in the middle: they are priced out of conveniently located, high quality units because they don’t qualify for low income housing projects but yet these individuals still cannot afford, or justify, full market rate apartments. We hope to address this gap with our 234 Market acquisition.” 

Heule said the goal is to finalize the program by the end of the year. 

Krimson sells other properties

The 234 Market site is one of several properties that Krimson has sold in recent months. The property management company sold several of its Grand Rapids parcels on Sept. 28 for $11.8 million. The properties located on Prospect, Lafayette, Ransom and Jefferson avenues, as well as Fountain Street, were sold to Flushing-based Charger Properties LLC, doing business as Heritage Collection Grand Rapids LLC, according to property records. 

A Charger Properties official could not be reached for comment.

Charger Properties also acquired Hopson Flats, a 42-unit mixed-use apartment building, from Krimson in January 2020. Located at 212 Grandville Ave. SW, Hopson Flats was sold for $8 million. An affiliate of Maplegrove Property previously purchased the building in 2015 for almost $9.4 million. 

Officials with Krimson have been unavailable to comment for this story.