Eastern Floral owner Bing Goei is partnering with Holland investor Saleem Usami in an $8 million four-story mixed-use housing development on Kalamazoo Avenue near Adams Street on Grand Rapids’ southeast side in what Goei calls the city’s often overlooked and undervalued Third Ward.
“Any small development we can do in the Third Ward, the ripple effect will increase the quality of life for everyone.”
The idea: smaller developments with groups of neighborhood investors.
The partners want projects that those in the community who may not have a significant amount of money to invest can still participate in, while offering a greater return on investment than market rates.
“We’re structuring our model so investors for $5,000–10,000 that want to invest for three years, we can probably get close to 7% so they can have ownership and a sense of pride of knowing ‘I was part of this project.’”
Goei is already working with a group of area property owners, mostly African American women, to create similar investment opportunities.
And he insists any new buildings be named for leaders in the Third Ward.
“You can’t be what you can’t see, so if you only see names on buildings that are not part of your community, you assume you can’t have that, and we want to break that false narrative.”
The partnership, called Impact Full Investments, recently received an emerging developer grand from the city’s Brownfield Revolving Fund and is applying for other funds from the city and state as well as working with private investors.
