Michigan should be very proud of Gran Raps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not too bad, I guess  :wink:

 

In any economic environment Grand Rapids would stand out, and in Michigan's current situation it's especially impressive.

Believe it or not Grand Rapids is the closest equivilant to Dayton in metro area population size and scale of their economy (as measured by Gross Metropolitan Product), yet look at what a wreck Dayton is in comparison to GR.

^Grand Rapids certainly has a much healthier and more interesting downtown than Dayton, but Dayton's neighborhoods and/or metro > Grand Rapids.  But of course, Grand Rapids' economy > Dayton's, which I'm quite envious of.

 

Nice shots Nate.

I was just going to ask how the neighborhoods fare compared to the gorgeous downtown we get to see here time to time.

It's like Rochester, New York, only more charming.

GR has always been my 2nd favorite city in the state.  Would love to live in Heritage Hill :)

I've never been to Grand Rapids, but in this thread and others I've seen, it looks more like a New England city than a Midwestern one. It must be the angles and the odd intersections.

Great shots.  Not sure if anyone had seen this CVB video, which has been getting a lot of positive reviews...

 

Grand Rapids looks like a surprisingly interesting and clean city. I haven't been to GR, but the parts of Western Michigan I have visited are absolutely stunning, especially the coastline. A few of the pics sorta remind me of a cleaner version of Hartford, CT. I defintely need to make a trip to GR.

Very nice! An inviting streetscape, brick streets and great architecture and infill... of course, Grand Rapids has a decent economy...

Wow! Dispels all the negative images from heresay! Gorgeous downtown!

Grand Rapids is one of my favorite cities, and I think it has the best downtown of any city its size in the country. In terms of neighborhoods, it doesn't have quite the stock of Toledo, but it also doesn't have quite the slums.

 

Grand Rapids does at least have a significant Victorian district which you come to expect in Great Lakes cities. In terms of urbanized area, it's fairly compact and easy to get around (I'd call it "right size" for my tastes). The real selling point of Grand Rapids is location, location, location. Sure, it's not right on Lake Michigan, but it's close enough to visit it every day if you wanted to. Nearby Grand Haven and Holland have two of the best public beaches in the country. If I were to have a family, I'd want it to be in western Michigan. It's my favorite part of America. People are nice, women are beautiful, and the extensive beach and dune systems beat any ocean I've seen.

so tidy. and getting better and better it seems. a shame about those too wide michigan roads tho.

As someone who works for a company whose State Headquarters is in Metro Grand Rapids, I thought you all might like to see it as presented by a corporate steward and proponent of it: