Grand Rapids lands at #2 Tier II Metro in Site Selection Magazines (Detroit: real estate, 2011)

[magellan]

Grand Rapids landed in the #2 spot this year in Site Selection Magazine's Top Metro's for business expansions, in the Tier II cities category (200K - 1 Million population), with 32 expansions of over $1 Million and/or the addition of 50 employees. This does not include the nearly $1 Billion in medical care and research facilities under construction currently in downtown Grand Rapids, scheduled to be completed between 2008 - 2011.

Full Tier II ranking:

1 Greensboro/Highpoint NC 33 projects
2 Grand Rapids/Wyoming 32
3 Huntsville, AL 31
4 Tulsa, OK 29
5 McAllen/Edinburgh/Pharr TX 28
6 Raleigh, NC 25
7 Durham, NC 24
8 Hagerstown/Martinsburg MD/WV 22
9 Dayton, OH 21
10 Ft Wayne, IN 21
11 Albany/Schenectady/Troy NY 21

http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2007/mar/topMetros/

[zygnoda]

Ah, finally some good news.

[magellan]

Surprisingly as well, Detroit landed at #6 in the Tier I category with 80 expansions. Higher than Houston, Indianapolis, Charlotte, and Nashville.

Nice work D-Town!

[zygnoda]

That's great; I appreciate it even more considering all the flack that the area/state gets about being worse than these other states/cities. Hopefully things will turn around and we won't be in the news for our high unemployment rate.

Also, why do you pay such close attention to this news?

Thanks for the info.

[Bhaalspawn]

That's wonderful news for Grand Rapids. I really don't know much about it. I would tend to think that the outlook for Grand Rapids is bad if the rest of the state is heading south, but perhaps I should go investiage the city. Perhaps a weekend trip would be in order. Besides, my wife has been dying to go on a short road trip.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by zygnoda

That's great; I appreciate it even more considering all the flack that the area/state gets about being worse than these other states/cities. Hopefully things will turn around and we won't be in the news for our high unemployment rate.

Also, why do you pay such close attention to this news?

Thanks for the info.

You're welcome. I do consulting for both residential and commercial developers, and my "circle of influence" includes a lot of people who deal with luring companies and people to West Michigan, and who deal with urban planning and public policy issues. I'm aware of a lot of the challenges and opportunities that exist. I don't sell real estate, so I don't stand to directly benefit from any of this. And since I have to stay abreast of this stuff, I just thought I'd share some good news with you folks.

Any other good news and I'll be glad to share.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

That's wonderful news for Grand Rapids. I really don't know much about it. I would tend to think that the outlook for Grand Rapids is bad if the rest of the state is heading south, but perhaps I should go investiage the city. Perhaps a weekend trip would be in order. Besides, my wife has been dying to go on a short road trip.

Bhaalspawn, if you're planning a daytrip to West Michigan/Grand Rapids, check out the website grnow.com. (Shameless plug for a friend). It's probably the most comprehensive listings of events, sights, restaurants, shopping, etc. for the GR area. Wait until it warms up a bit and then you can hit Grand Haven while you're here, which is one of the coolest Lake Michigan resort towns there is.

[human92]

Grand Rapids is the only big city in michigan on an extreme-UP. I live right downtown and have lived downtown for years. As I type this there are nearly a dozen cranes looming over the skyline, new buildings many of which are highrises. Anyone has any questions feel free to message me!

[MittenDweller82]

I just will be at Founders sipping on some centennial IPA........cheers!