Buying a Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan

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Grand Rapids is located in Kent County

Population: 197,800

Welcome to Grand Rapids! This wonderful city is located in West Michigan, just a short drive from the sandy white beaches of Lake Michigan. If you are looking for a city filled with culture and excitement, you have come to the right place. Grand Rapids offers fine dining with more restaurants per capita than most cities; huge malls with most national chains, a renowned museum and a huge arena seating 12,000, where you can watch your favorite performers and sporting events.

Economy
Grand Rapids has long been a center for furniture and automobile manufacturing; however, the presence of both industries has declined in the region along with manufacturing in general. Both American Seating and Steelcase, major manufacturers of office furniture, are based in Grand Rapids.

More recently the city has had some success in developing and attracting businesses focusing on the health sciences, with facilities such as the Van Andel Research Institute (primarily focused on cancer research), Grand Valley State University's new Cook-De Vos Medical Training Facility, and Michigan State University's planned medical school (supplementing its facility in East Lansing).

The convention business has seen an increase following the construction of the DeVos Place Convention Center. Grand Rapids is also home to the Mercantile Bank of Michigan.

Education
Grand Rapids is home to several colleges and universities. Aquinas College, Calvin College, and Cornerstone University are private, religious schools, each with a campus within the city. Grand Rapids Community College maintains a campus downtown and facilities in other parts of the city and surrounding region. Grand Valley State University continues to develop its presence in the city with an expanding downtown campus, begun in the late 1990s on the west bank of the Grand River. Ferris State University has a growing campus downtown, including the Applied Technology Center (operated with GRCC) and the prestigious Kendall College of Art and Design. Thomas M. Cooley Law School, a private institution, has a campus in Grand Rapids. Davenport University, a state-wide educational institution, has its main campus in Grand Rapids. Western Michigan University has a long-standing graduate program in the city, with facilities downtown and in the southeast.

K-12 public education is provided by the Grand Rapids Public Schools as well as a number of charter schools.

As of 2006, there is an active movement among community leaders to have Michigan State University open a new medical school in Grand Rapids. Michigan State University West Michigan Medical School will be MSU's second fully accredited four-year medical school, this facility will be located in Downtown Grand Rapids.

Culture
Beginning with the installation of Alexander Calder's abstract sculpture La Grande Vitesse, the city has been host to the annual Festival of the Arts downtown since 1970, known to locals simply as Festival. During the first weekend in June, several blocks of downtown surrounding the Calder stabile in Vandenberg Plaza are closed to traffic. Festival features several stages with free live performances, food booths selling a variety of ethnic cuisine, art demonstrations and sales, and other arts-related activities. Organizers bill it as the largest all-volunteer arts festival in the United States. Vandenberg Plaza also hosts various ethnic festivals that take place throughout the summer season.

Summer concludes with Celebration on the Grand the weekend after Labor Day featuring free concerts, West Michigan's largest fireworks display and food booths. Celebration on the Grand (a free music festival) is an all volunteer event to celebrate life in the Grand River valley.

Heritage Hill, a neighborhood east of downtown, is one of the largest Urban Historic Districts in the country, with over 1000 Victorian homes. Of particular significance is the Meyer May House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908 was commissioned by local merchant Meyer May who operated a men's clothing store (May's of Michigan). The house is now a free museum owned and operated by Steelcase who restored the property in the 1980s.

Further east of downtown is the historic Wealthy Street Theatre.

Source: wikipedia.org