Two West Project Gets Another Month

GRAND RAPIDS — Last week city commissioners gave Two West Fulton another month to complete its due diligence on the former City Centre ramp site for a $24 million residential and commercial project the firm plans to build on the property at Fulton Street and Division Avenue.

Two West Fulton, a joint venture between RSC Associates of Chicago and Second Story Properties of Grand Rapids, now has until the end of March to finish its exploratory work. The firm had hoped to complete the soil borings and analysis by the end of this month, but didn’t receive the ramp blueprints until the end of last month.

In addition, the title search and survey showed a utility easement in the alley near the site and the surveyor needs more time to determine whether something has to be removed from the alley.

Two West Fulton agreed to buy the property from the city in November for $2 million. The 37,000-square-foot parcel was appraised at $1.95 million.

The project calls for roughly 82,000 square feet of market-rate condominium space, about 32,000 square feet of commercial space, and 250 parking spaces. The city plans to purchase up to 149 of those spaces for public parking.

The firm has until Jan. 31, 2007, to close on the deal. That date is also the deadline for Two West Fulton to pay the city $2 million. But before the partners can close, they have to pre-lease and pre-sell half of the commercial and residential spaces, have their financing in place, and have all the building plans completed.

The March deadline for the due diligence work is also the last date that Two West Fulton can back out of the purchase agreement and get its $10,000 deposit on the property returned.