Grand Rapids Economy and Job Market -- Bucking the State Trend? (Flint: neighborhood, purchasing)

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Wabbit

I think its interesting that 'conservative' Grand Rapids leaves 'liberal' Ann Arbor in the dust when it comes to LEED ratings on its buildings. In fact Grand Rapids has become the green building capital of the USA.
Todays New York Times has a great article on the new Museum:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/ar...tner=BREITBART

Another article discussing Grand Rapids building boom said this:

"One thing they have in common is that all are certified, or are seeking to be certified, by the U.S. Green Building Council as embodying characteristics that make them “green.” Greater Grand Rapids, as it turns out, has an extraordinary number of certifiably green buildings, and so does the West Michigan region as a whole."

Not of interest to a lot of people but interesting none the less considering how mired in the past many posters here think Michigan is.

Oh, by the way, I guess I'm a beer traitor because my dainty tastes
prefer Bell's Oberon and Amber ale.

Oberon..mmmm. I almost forgot Wabbit that it's out again. Oberon knows no geographical boundaries of loyalty.

[Bhaalspawn]

Magellan--thanks for the excellent post about Grand Rapids. I wanted to give you a Rep for it but for some reason I don't have the option to do that.

Grand Rapids sounds like an interesting place and even though I've lived most of my life in Michigan, I'm pretty sure I've never been there before. I had no idea that Grand Valley State U. was anything more than a glorified community college. I'll have to learn a bit more about it.

[MittenDweller82]

Originally Posted by magellan

Oberon..mmmm. I almost forgot Wabbit that it's out again. Oberon knows no geographical boundaries of loyalty.

Since granholm is considering shutting down the government by may 1, maybe we can all head down to bells and dry up the kegs of oberon. Peace

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Magellan--thanks for the excellent post about Grand Rapids. I wanted to give you a Rep for it but for some reason I don't have the option to do that.

Grand Rapids sounds like an interesting place and even though I've lived most of my life in Michigan, I'm pretty sure I've never been there before. I had no idea that Grand Valley State U. was anything more than a glorified community college. I'll have to learn a bit more about it.

Honestly, I had never been to Grand Rapids either, except "through it" on the way to Lake Michigan from Lansing. I didn't realize how many different big companies were here until I moved here and got to know it a little better.

GVSU has become quite the competition for Western and a lot of the other MAC schools. Developers are in the midst of trying to get approval of a 1900 unit student "village" in Allendale right now. Just since we moved here in 1995, it went from something like 15,000 students then to almost 24,000 in 2006. Getting all those graduates to stay in Michigan is another story though.

Here are some pictures of some of GVSU's campuses. It's unfortunate that so much of it is way out in Allendale (West of Grand Rapids)































Downtown business school











Downtown Health Sciences



Alternative Energy college



Eberhard Center downtown



Downtown engineering school expansion

[Bhaalspawn]

I had no idea GVSU had so many students. Thank you for the photos. They make it look like a lovely, modern, land-grant campus. I'd figured that perhaps it had 10,000. To put itself on the map, it should open up an MBA program (if it doesn't already have one) and try to get a law school and perhaps a medical school.

[M TYPE X]

GVSU looks great!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

I had no idea GVSU had so many students. Thank you for the photos. They make it look like a lovely, modern, land-grant campus. I'd figured that perhaps it had 10,000. To put itself on the map, it should open up an MBA program (if it doesn't already have one) and try to get a law school and perhaps a medical school.

They actually do have an MBA program taught at the Seidman College of Business downtown. One of my neighbors is a professor there, is from England, and teaches an International Hospitality course. Apparently they tried to put together a law school, but Western Michigan University beat them to the punch and formed a joint venture with Cooley Law out of Lansing, and now Cooley has a law school in GR next to WMU's campus downtown. Starting a medical school is very expensive, so I don't see them doing that any time soon. However, with MSU moving their med school here in 2008 - 2009 (their new campus is about to start construction downtown), GVSU plans to partner up with them to expand their health sciences curriculum. Last I read GVSU has a 2 or 3 year waiting list to get into their nursing school.

I grew up near MSU in Lansing, so I know what living near a mammoth college campus feels like, but the pace of growth at GVSU is quite startling. I don't get out to their Allendale campus very often (they have a great golf course on campus), but when I do I can't get over the construction going on all the time and all the new student housing going up.

I think some of the drawing cards is that it is only about 15 minutes from Grand Haven and Lake Michigan, plus you can live in a number of different old loft apartments in downtown Grand Rapids (where all the bars are), take a few classes downtown, and catch what they call the "GVSU Connector" buses that run constantly day and night between downtown GR and the Allendale campus.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...m=1&iwloc=addr


If you need any other info, just let me know.

mag

[magellan]

An update on Steelcase from today (area's largest employer at 5000):

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/in...940.xml&coll=6

Steelcase numbers best in five years
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Rob Kirkbride
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- For the first time in five years, Steelcase Inc. today posted yearly sales topping $3 billion while profits surged 110 percent over the previous year.

It was another sign of a robust office furniture industry after Herman Miller Inc. reported surging quarterly profits last week.

In this morning's announcement, Steelcase said this was the fourth-best year in its history for sales. The company's best year was 2001, when it had sales of more than $4 billion.

Not trying to be boastful, just sharing some much needed good news.

[magellan]

Oops, double post.

I had a thought, maybe we should send kegs of Oberon to Lansing. I've never seen a beer bring so many people together.

[M TYPE X]

We need the good news from Steelcase.

After I get my advanced degree, I wouldn't mind teaching at GVSU or WMU.