I included most of what is shown as the West Grand neighborhood on google but cut some of the park space on the western and northern edges and cut the northeast slice north of Ann St as its all industrial.

West Grand was developed in the late 19th early 20th century rooted in its role as a working-class neighborhood during the city’s booming furniture industry. It developed as a relatively walkable streetcar neighborhood welcoming several ethnic communities especially Polish, German, and Irish immigrants. Deindustrialization certainly negatively impacted the neighborhood but West Grand never hit bottom like other largely African American neighborhoods on the southside. In recent decades there has been a resurgence of interest in the neighborhood leading to a relatively stable housing market, decent retail and cultural amenities especially along its booming business district on Bridge but also along Leonard St, and Fourth & Stocking.

This is a solid urban district with good safety levels, decent amenities, attractive historic architecture, diverse and affordable housing but to become a premiere Grand Rapids neighborhood it needs much better density and more infill development along its commercial corridors and industrial areas (along the river and Seward Ave). Public transit is really only good in the southern and eastern part of the neighborhood and schools are a bit limited and generally not well rated.

Click here to view my West Grand album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure and about 80% of all intersections are up to ADA standards.
* Variety of historic residential architecture from the late 1800s all the way to 1950s ranch homes generally moving from southern to north but also east to west. Most architecture is more modest working class housing but generally pretty well maintained. Nicer historic commercial bldgs along Bridge and several impressive brick warehouse buildings along Steward and closer to the river.
* Urban form is pretty good especially along Bridge St and to a lesser extend Stocking Ave. Urban form along Leonard is more of a mixed bag but good urban form in stretches esp. btwn.
* Outside of the more industrial stretches, pretty solid tree canopy.
* Solid access to Dwtn with transit trips generally 15-20 mins away. Decent set of bike lanes with pretty good access to dwtn and the recreational trails along the river.
* Solid diversity metrics especially racial.
* Generally a pretty safe neighborhood but some grit in spots, especially the more industrial areas.
* Decent retail amenities including a couple smaller supermarkets, a hardware store, several pharmacies, a local butchery, and florists,  a couple clothing stores & banks, several barbershops, a bakeries, a YMCA, a local public library & post office, a couple medical offices, and several churches.
* Decent cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants & bars, a brewery, a couple cafes, a couple places with live music, and a comedy club.
* Pretty good rental options with 1-beds leasing btwn $900-1.3K, 2-beds btwn 1K-1.7K, 3-beds btwn 1.5-2.5K.
* Nice array of for sale options with some 1-bed condos selling btwn 150K-300K, 2-beds btwn 100K-400K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 100K-450K. Plenty of affordable for sale options here.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Public transit is hit or miss and not great along the western and north edges of West Grand.
• Missing some crucial urban retail including a local public library and post office and supermarket. Also very few clothing and boutiques.
• Density is so so for an urban area.
• Large amount of surface parking in the more industrial areas along the review and poor urban form. Urban form is hit or miss along Leonard St.