GRAND RAPIDS – Plans for the city's third 'corridor improvement district' are progressing as work on a fourth is simmering.

Grand Rapids officials have set a March 13 hearing on creation of a North Quarter Corridor Improvement Authority, which would establish a local board to draft a development plan and capture a portion of property taxes to fund it.

Meanwhile, West Leonard business leaders are pursuing their own district that also could involve other commercial areas on the city’s West Side.

"We want to coordinate with the Stockbridge area and maybe reach out to West Fulton (Business Association) and see if they would have interest in being a part of that and making it one large district," said Johnny Brann, Jr., president of the West Leonard Business Association.

Getting the districts together to plan improvements “would really help us define those areas and hopefully market it” to customers and prospective businesses, he said.

Projects could address public infrastructure, parking and transportation issues, streetscape amenities and marketing.

“Those are all things that we’ve seen in other areas that really made it look nice,” Brann, Jr. said.

Grand Rapids has two corridor improvement districts: Uptown, along parts of Lake Drive and Fulton, Cherry and Wealthy streets; and Madison Square, along parts of Hall Street and Madison Avenue SE. The North Quarter district, encompassing the Cheshire Village, Creston and part of the Monroe North business districts, would be the third.

Tax revenues from new development or growth of the existing tax base get captured by the corridor improvement authority, which decides how to reinvest that money within the district. The proposed North Quarter corridor – along Monroe Avenue NW from Colfax to Coldbrook streets, and along Plainfield Avenue from Coldbrook to Beechwood Street - includes almost 2 million square feet of ground-floor space, half of it commercial.

Both “the North Quarter” and West Leonard also plan to establish business improvement districts that permit special assessments on properties within the boundaries to fund corridor maintenance and beautification.

“We think this will have a big impact on the neighborhood that surrounds the business activity area,” said Duane Culver, president of the Creston Business Association. “We’re looking for this to help encourage some momentum that’s already started.”

Improvement ideas for "the North Quarter" include decorative streetlights, sidewalk enhancements such as planters, park development and marketing, Culver said.

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