East Hills- A Great Urban Revitalization Story only 2 miles east of Downtown Grand Rapids

The majority of the East Hills neighborhood was built in the late 19th Century, when the area was made up of orchards and farms. During the late 1800s grand Rapids experienced a major population boom thanks to the effects of the industrial revolution and massive European immigration. Thanks to its convenient accessibility to Dwtn via the streetcar many of Grand Rapid’s new immigrant residents settled here.  They helped build a thriving urban community with 4 business districts cutting through the East Hills community (Wealthy, Lake, Cherry, and Fulton). During the 1960’s East Hills lost its luster as many residents left for the suburbs and an increase in crime, blight and abandonment came to the area a common fate to so many American inner city neighborhoods in the Post War Era. Fortunately East Hills was able to retain most of its urban fabric thanks to the strong organization efforts of the East Hills Council Neighborhoods in the 80s & 90s. By the early 2000s the 4 business districts were welcoming a plethora of new shops , restaurants, bars, and coffee shops and the neighborhood has never looked back.

This is one of Grand Rapid’s best urban districts thanks to its 4 walkable business districts, good rental inventory, great tree canopy , comfortable sidewalks, and convenient access to dwtn being only 1.5 miles away. But for this to be a premier urban district on a national level it needs better bike access, better diversity, more walkable schools, and better park amenities.

Click here to view my East Hills Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

• Excellent sidewalk infrastructure with most ADA curbs being up to date.
• Solid urban density at just under 10K people per square mile.
• Very convenient access to Dwtn being only 1.5 miles away and a 10-15 minute transit ride.
• Limited blight here and a pretty safe community.
• Excellent historic architecture esp. the turn of the century homes but also good historic commercial buildings too.
• Strong sense of place with several urban biz districts and distinctive buildings.
• Decent for sale diversity and price points but not 1-bed condos. 2-beds sell btwn 200K-425K. 3 & 4 beds btwn 200K-600K with a handful of mansions that sell for more.
• Good rental inventory especially . 1-beds lease in the low-medium 1Ks, 2-beds in the 1Ks. 3-beds lease btwn 1.8K-2.3K. A handful of 4 beds as well.
• Great tree canopy throughout the district.
• Some modern in-fill bldgs but what does exist is pretty good urban quality.
• A handful of surface parking lots on the 4 urban biz districts (wealthy, Cherry, Lake, and Fulton) but overall urban form is very good in East Hills.
• Some small groceries but no supermarkets here. Plenty of boutiques & clothing stores, several home goods stores, ton of salons & barber shops, a couple book stores, a toy store, plenty of dessert joints, a couple of gyms & churches.
• Great array of restaurants, bars, and cafes, a handful of art galleries & nightclubs, an indie movie theater, and a couple bars host live music.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Some economic diversity but racial and generational diversity are pretty limited.
• So so bike access to a couple segments of dedicated bike lanes. No bike sharing stations.
• Only one school located within East Hills. At least it is a well rated public schools. A handful of somewhat walkable schools in the adjacent areas that are generally rated pretty well.
• Only a handful of parks within East Hills that are pretty small. A couple walkable parks in adjacent neighborhoods.
• Missing some key retail amenities including a local post office, public library or hospitals and only a handful of doctor’s offices.”