Heritage Hill- Arguably Michigan’s best Historic District

The Heritage Hill neighborhood is located just to the east of Downtown Grand Rapids and is the City’s oldest residential district. It also has Michigan largest concentration of nineteenth and early twentieth-century homes, with many of them as mansions for the City’s elites. However, this neighborhood was under threat from the recking ball as City officials threatened to demolish huge swaths of the neighborhood in the 1960s. Thankfully tactful community organizing resisted these efforts and one of the best Historic Distracts was created in Grand Rapids. Heritage Hills in the present day is one of the City’s more desirable communities, retaining its historic fabric, amplified by great access to Dwtn, good housing diversity, and decent schools and food & beverage businesses. But to become a top notch Midwestern neighborhood it needs more retail and walkable amenities. This can start with rebuilding Michigan Avenues as an urban mixed-uses corridor instead of autocentric business district, and allowing more mixed uses along Fulton, Cherry, and Wealthy Streets. 

Click here to view my Heritage Hills neighborhood on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

• Almost all intersections have modern ADA curb cuts.
• Respectable density at just under 10K per square mile.
• Great historic homes.
• Solid public transit access and great access to Dwtn being only 1 mile away.
• Great Tree canopy.
• Decent # restaurants, bars, and a couple cafes, a couple art galleries, a couple museums & historic houses and convenient access to all the cultural amenities dwtn.
• Decent # of schools within the district and public schools have ok ratings
• Overall pretty safe with limited blight.
• Pretty good rental diversity and also affordable. 1-beds lease in the low 1Ks, 2-beds btwn 1.2K-2K, and only a handful of 3 & 4 bed rentals.
• Decent # of 1-bed condos that sell anywhere from 150K-300K, decent # of 2-beds sell btwn 200K-500K including many units carved out of historic mansions. Pretty good variety for 3 & 4 bed homes selling anywhere between 250K-750K.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* One east to west dedicated bike lane and not dedicated bike stations here nor in Grand Rapids as a whole.
*  Some poor urban form along Michigan Ave with large surface parking lots but improving with better urban infill. Rest of the neighborhood is pretty good.
* Not great park space within the community. Only a couple of smaller parks but more parks surrounding it.
* Retail amenities are pretty limited but include a Dollar Store, a couple clothing stores, a couple dessert joints, a couple gyms, a couple churches and a major hospital.