GRAND RAPIDS — A large mixed-use development in Grand Rapids’ active Monroe North business district, along with an adjacent parcel and nearby parking lot open for future development, sold for $22.6 million at the end of 2022.
Chicago-based commercial insurance broker Amir Kalamperovic, doing business as 820 Lofts LLC, acquired the River Flats at 820 Monroe building at 820 Monroe Ave. NW. The purchase from Holland-based Bayside Capital Management closed on Dec. 19, according to property records.
As well, Bayside Capital sold an adjacent vacant parcel for $2.5 million and a nearby surface parking lot at 804 Bond Ave. NW for $3 million to similar entities registered to the same address as 820 Lofts LLC.
According to brokers who worked on the deal, the owner could seek to develop the two additional properties, which would join a growing number of businesses in the area as well as Corewell Health’s $100 million Center for Transformation and Innovation that’s under construction.
“With (Corewell Health’s) development to the south and the direction of that neighborhood, the buyer has plans at some point in the future to sort of reimagine how those surface lots are utilized that were part of sale,” said Matt Jones, managing director of Walker & Dunlop LLC, which served as the broker for the property sales.
Kalamperovic told MiBiz that he has no renovation plans for the 820 Monroe property. He declined to provide additional details about the deal when reached for comment.
River Flats at 820 Monroe, formerly known as Lofts at 820 on Monroe, includes three commercial buildings that were each built in 1900. The primary, 86,700-square-foot, five-story structure includes 87 apartment units and just shy of 26,000 square feet of commercial space that includes several ground floor storefronts: City Built Brewing Co., Field and Fire Cafe and CKO Kickboxing, with apartments above. The property features more than 116,000 square feet of commercial space.
All of the 87 apartments were leased at the time of the sale, and a potential tenant is in negotiations for one vacant commercial space, Jones said.
The 820 Monroe deal comes as investor interest in West Michigan only grows, he added.
“The demand for rental units is still very high here. We don’t have the growth that some of the bigger cities have, but it’s a good, steady, stable market from an investment perspective,” Jones said. “If you look at West Michigan in general across the multifamily world, it’s been on more and more people’s radar from a buying perspective.”
Developer Derek Coppess’ now-defunct 616 Lofts LLC developed the former Sackner Products Factory in 2015. The redevelopment was among at least seven large 616 Lofts mixed-use projects at the time that added about 300 housing units in Grand Rapids, prior to the company’s bankruptcy filing.
Meanwhile, the property in Grand Rapids’ Monroe North business district sits near Corewell Health’s $100 million Center for Transformation and Innovation. The project currently under construction expects to bring hundreds of workers to the neighborhood in a welcome boost for nearby business owners.
A vacant lot at 816 Monroe Ave. NW included in the deal.
A surface parking lot at 804 Bond Ave. included in the deal.
