NV Blog - Bulls Eye!

posted on Jan 27th 2010 at 12:00am by Mark Lewis

A buddy of mine and I went out to play darts a while ago. He’s pretty good at it. Me? Not so much. I’d consider myself a rookie. In general terms I knew the goal was to score points. He filled me in on the rest of the strategy. Hit the middle but don’t forget about the triple point and double point rings surrounding the center.

My experience at cricket (that’s the game we played) made me think in parallel terms of the work we are doing at Neighborhood Ventures. Sure points are scored in the middle, but you also have the chance to rack up plenty of points in the outside rings as well. In fact, the only way you can actually win the game is if you hit all of the areas on the board before your opponent does.

Many of today’s conversations around commercial real estate and economic development focus on the bull’s eye and the outer ring – in name, our downtown and the suburbs. Rightfully so in many cases, and certainly not to diminish the incredibly important work being accomplished in these target areas. But what is overlooked in conversations about the potential of Grand Rapids is our true “sweet spot” – the interior ring of our neighborhood business districts.

The sweetness, as it were, is found in the dynamic economic potential of our neighborhood commercial areas. According to the recent LISC MetroEdge study, over $766 million “leaks” out of our neighborhood business areas every year. Simply said, residents in our urban neighborhoods are actively purchasing products and services but buying them outside the neighborhood and even outside the city. This is due to many factors, but the largest is that our neighborhoods don’t have the right business mix to meet our city’s needs.

Strong neighborhood commercial areas help create strong and competitive neighborhoods and a strong and competitive city. We talk about walkable communities and adaptive reuse. We push the merits of keeping it local and preventing urban sprawl (Go Local First!). All of these issues and more are supported in this amazing data that resoundingly says “Yes! Our neighborhood business districts do have potential!”

Neighborhood Ventures’ ReStore Grand Rapids program is one solution to bring back the market, the capital, the entrepreneurs, and the jobs to our neighborhoods. Using the, we can work with a business district to determine an underserved need. That need is then compared with available commercial property stock or development opportunity. Simply find the leak and plug the hole using the unique neighborhood character.

We also work with property owners who may be stumped for ideas to make that available space of his/hers work in the neighborhood. Good for them financially, great for the neighborhood stability. At times it is simply us matching a budding entrepreneur with the best area of the city for their business idea to succeed.

As we face one of the most economically challenging times in Grand Rapids history, we need to reexamine not what is just valued in our city but also what is valuable. Our neighborhood business districts are both. But one program can’t do it alone. We need residents, banks, local investors, shoppers, and city government to step up to the plate to get the job done. Taking another look just might be the next economic development opportunity we need.

And that sure hits the mark.