@MissGayle @urbangr This is mostly about the media being convinced that anything _negative_ which happens downtown is a harbinger of a trend-line (hence #UrbanDoomLoop).; when the data is clear that almost everything is incidental.
Aside: pretty walkable, decent transit by tier#2 American standards, and an increasing residential population. River walk under construction, plus a good amount of park space. And the work-from-home number has been pretty stable at ~10% for awhile.
A downtown coffee shop, right in the center of the central business district, is calling it quits! Once again it is obvious that the downtown economy is in free fall - everyone is working from home! - . . .oh, wait, is another coffee shop opening across the street from the one that is closing? Yes. Huh, that;s so strange. #GrandRapidsMI #UrbanDoomLoop
Bigby is closing, Foxtail is opening.
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/biggby-coffee-in-downtown-grand-rapids-closes/
The restaurant industry is collapsing, OMG! Oh, wait ... is another closed restaurant reopening, almost immediately? Well, yep, sure is.
Flannigan's is coming back, now as Flannigan's. #GrandRapidsMI #UrbanDoomLoop
https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/restaurants/cgr-rood-building-flanagans-sells-20260428/
The Urban Doom Loop continues, with the collapse of the downtown economy, rampant office vacancy in the central business districts .. . . oh, wait.
130 more employees, this time from Blue Cross, headed downtown; this will bring the total number of Blue Cross employees in the downtown office to over 400.
https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/health-care/cgr-bcbs-steketees-20260421/
Is yet another development firm opening an office in Grand Rapids? Yep. This time it is Wieland Corp moving into 560 Fifth St. NW (West Side).
"""We see that about $1 billion or more (worth of projects) is going in just downtown, and that whole area and the suburbs around is just going to expand. We’d just like to get a little piece of that pie and become part of the family there."""
Adam Williams
UrbanGR
UrbanGR
