Grand Landing project slows

Thu, Oct 29, 2009    to del.icio.us

Several years after the project was officially announced and ground was broken, only some of the Grand Landing development project has come to fruition.

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"With any big project, they are complicated and complex," Grand Haven City Planner Kristin Keery said.

The project is located at the city's north entrance along U.S. 31. It features condominium units, restaurants and retail establishments. Developers would like to see a hotel and conference center eventually added to the development.

"It is being constructed in phases, and each phase is at a different stage in the review process," Keery said.

An example of this is the hotel and conference center portion of the development, which the city's Planning Commission has already given final approval. The next step would be for the application of building permits.

According to City Manager Pat McGinnis, the major hold-up for the rest of the development is in the area of financing.

"At this point, it is kind of a waiting game," he said.

McGinnis said during the development cycle, the economy tanked, making funding more difficult and the market for condos disappeared.

Additionally, he said the current situation is a private development issue, and the site currently has plenty of public investment with roads and utilities leading to it.

"Now, we need the private financing to come along," McGinnis said.

The city manager said there is hope that county recovery zone bonds made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be used to help developers jolt the hotel and conference center portion of the project to life.

In the coming weeks and months, city officials should have a better idea of whether this piece of the funding pie will be in place.

"We're kind of banking on it and have passed a formal resolution on it," McGinnis said, adding the city has sent a letter of interest to the county regarding the use of these bonds for the project.

Ottawa County Planning Department Director Mark Knudsen said he received a letter of interest from the city, which is interested in $24 million of the county's allocation of Recovery Zone Facility Bonds or Recovery Zone Economic Development Bonds. Ottawa County officials are expected to review applications for these bonds later in the year, and the Board of Commissioners would have complete discretion to look at any criteria they want regarding the issuance of bonds.

Prior to the redevelopment of the Grand Landing site, the land was home to an array of mixed uses. This included the old county Road Commission building, a scrap yard, the old wastewater treatment facility, and some businesses and residential units.

"What it looks like now is such a dramatic change," McGinnis said.

He, like Keery, noted the project has been in the hopper for quite some time. When he began working for the city in 2003, McGinnis said discussion about the project was already in full swing.

"It's been a very, very long drawn-out redevelopment," he said.

Calls to Grand Landing LLC officials were not returned by press time.