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By Nathan Peck | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS — Stepping out over a gigantic scrabble board, Tara Powers stands in the spacious new digs of Lambert Edwards & Associates along Commerce Avenue.

In what was once an abandoned auto repair garage, the investor and public relations firm now has a space that it can call its own. Lambert Edwards had grown consistently over the last 11 years since founder and managing partner Jeff Lambert started the business in his basement.

In recent years, the firm found it was hampered by space constraints in its previous location in the PNC building at Monroe Avenue and Pearl Street. The new space embodies the “professional cool” aesthetic, keeps all its staff on one floor, and makes the firm more efficient as a result, said Powers.

“We knew we wanted to be a part of the revitalization of downtown. We looked at a lot of spaces around town, but this, an empty warehouse, appealed to us. It was a blank canvas,” Powers, partner and managing director of the firm, said.

A decade ago, the area was dotted with abandoned storefronts. As redevelopment has extended around it, entertainment, offices, retail and educational uses along Ionia Avenue to the west and arts-based development along Division to the east, Commerce is now getting its due.

Real estate prices have dropped as a result of the recession, making development of the properties there more economically viable, many say.

Thirty Eight, the $26 million residential, commercial and retail development owned by Locus Development, rises across the street from Lambert Edwards, and Mark Sellers’ new bars, Stella’s and The Viceroy, are nearby.

The Locus Development project, along with adjacent apartment development The Gallery on Fulton is helping to transform the area, said Mark Sellers, owner of Hopcat. Sellers opened Stella’s and The Viceroy this spring and has plans in the works to develop a music venue and brewpub.

“In a year, this area will really be jumping. The residential development here is really the driving force,” Sellers said. “There are beautiful historical buildings that haven’t been redeveloped yet. Honestly, these buildings would not be available if the market wasn’t distressed.”

For a music venue dubbed The Pyramid Scheme at 68 Commerce, Sellers is partnering with Tami and Jeff VandenBerg, the brother/sister owners of Meanwhile Bar on Wealthy Street. The VandenBergs have longstanding, close ties to the Grand Rapids arts and music scene: Jeff owns Grand Rapids-based music label Friction Records and helped found the Division Avenue Arts Cooperative. The duo serve on the board of the DAAC.

As the VandenBergs looked into developing a music venue in early 2010, they learned Mark and wife Michelle were looking to develop a music venue as well. Rather than have competing venues in the Heartside district, the trio looked to partner up on the venture, a 400-500 person venue with a bar at the front. Next door at 62 Commerce, the Sellerses plan to construct a brewery, Beatnik Brewing, in a former office building.

“Jeff and I have been really into the arts and music scene over the last 10 to 15 years. When we were planning the Meanwhile, we had thought about incorporating music there. The neighborhood was not thrilled about that, but it was something that has been in our minds since,” Tami VandenBerg told MiBiz. “Mark and Michelle contacted us and it turned out they had similar ideas about the size and type of venue. We did not want to compete with the existing businesses.”

The two properties are expected to open in early 2011, after about $2.4 million in renovations. For VandenBerg, who has worked as a social worker in Heartside, the area is a tremendous mix of artists and creativity, with its share of difficulties as well.

“This part of the city feels the most urban. It feels authentic; there’s some grit,” VandenBerg said. “There is an incredible interaction of people there — a lot of people come together in Heartside that don’t get together otherwise. It is where I want to invest, where I want to bring people.”

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TAGS:

• beatnik brewing
• division avenue arts cooperative
• economic development
• friction records
• grand rapids
• hopcat
• jeff vandenberg
• lambert edwards & associates
• locus development
• mark sellers