GRAND RAPIDS — The Kent County Road Commission has voted to deny a more than $5 million bid for its Central Complex property along the Grand River
The entity 2722 Vassar LLC, registered to Christopher Weller, submited the only bid to purchase the Road Commission’s headquarters property, located at 1500 Scribner Avenue and including parcels at 1600, 1632 and 160 Turner Avenue NW.
The Road Commission in December released a notice of sale for the property, which is along the west bank of the Grand River near U.S. 131.
Steve Warren, the Road Commission’s managing director, said in a statement it is “not the right time” to sell the property.
“We appreciate the time and effort taken to submit the proposal. However, the market appears to be telling us that it is not the right time to sell this property,” he said. “Because this sale is integral to the financial strategy of relocating our central complex, we will continue to research and evaluate the market and the redevelopment of the river corridor to assess opportunities that better align with our financial requirements.”
Staff at the Road Commission determined the net consideration to be received did not match its assessment of the value of the property. As well, the proceeds would be insufficient to satisfy the Road Commission’s plans to construct a new complex in the WalkerView Industrial Park on land it purchased in 2016.
The Road Commission’s Scribner property was valued between $7.5 million and $8 million.
The Kent County Road Commission complex was identified as one of 15 “priority riverfront sites” in GR Forward, a 10-year community master plan and investment strategy for downtown Grand Rapids and the Grand River corridor, as MiBiz previously reported.
The GR Forward document calls for the property to be a mixed-use site in the future, with “opportunities for the development of high loft and office space” close to Scribner Avenue, while allowing pedestrian access to and use of the riverfront.
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