HOOKER | DE JONG - Architechts & Engineers

Dennis Sturtevant is CEO of Dwelling Place, which owns and manages more than 1,000 homes
and apartments in 24 communities, along with 40 office and retail spaces that total more than
100,000 square feet.

David Czurak
Grand Rapids Business Journal
September 27, 2010

Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids was nine years old when Dennis Sturtevant became executive director of the nonprofit property management firm. The year was 1989 and the company had to contract-out its management duties for the 300 housing units it owned because the firm only had three employees, including Sturtevant.

Today, Sturtevant is CEO and Dwelling Place is 30 years old with more than 80 employees. The firm now owns and manages more than 1,000 homes and apartments in 24 communities, along with 40 office and retail spaces that total more than 100,000 square feet. Those numbers make Dwelling Place the largest nonprofit property manager in West Michigan and the firm is continuing to extend its reach throughout the region.

Sturtevant said Jubilee Ministries, a local development group in Holland, invited Dwelling Place to take part in developing a city block, and construction on the $10 million-project got under way a few weeks ago. The work includes a historical renovation of the former E.E. Fell junior high and high school building at 16th Street and River Avenue. “The kind of capacity that we have and the many projects we’ve done has caused other cities and groups to say, ‘Hey, can you come over here and do a little bit of that here?’ So we’re doing that in Holland now,” he said.

Hastings city officials are also talking with Sturtevant about having Dwelling Place help fill the vacant upper floors of its downtown buildings. “If you drive through a lot of rural downtowns and a lot of urban business districts you’ll see the first floors, in many cases, are very active and filled with businesses. But when you look up at the second floors there’s nothing. We think that is an opportunity to create some pedestrian-friendly housing and economic development in some of those areas,” he said.

As for the firm’s biggest accomplishment to date, Sturtevant said it was the gradual development of the Heartside neighborhood. Even though Dwelling Place has left a lasting impression in two dozen places, Heartside remains special to Sturtevant because it’s where the firm started. The development efforts that the company has undertaken there over the last three decades, such as the Martineau Avenue of the Arts, have overcome the negative image those Division Avenue blocks held for nearly a half century.

It also wasn’t that long ago when Heartside was often referred to as the neighborhood just south of downtown. But today Heartside is downtown, as it is home to the city’s thriving entertainment district and a feeding ground for the arts community. Sturtevant is especially proud that Heartside has become a livable neighborhood for everyone; a transformation that was done without displacing the existing residents, which is a feat that many cities can’t claim.

“That’s the key,” he said. “You get the best of gentrification without the worst of it. How I kind of look at this is people talk about a gentrification of neighborhoods where there is a lot of change going on like this. But since we own a substantial number of affordable housing units in the neighborhood what has happened in other cities and in other neighborhoods doesn’t have to happen here.

“So we can be very comfortable, encouraging, and even engaging in development that is supporting market-rate development and business development because we don’t really have any fear about displacement since we control the housing…We’re here to make sure that as the neighborhood gets better, and as the quality of life improves, those who have lived here for a long time can enjoy that as well.”

Sturtevant said he has had a few disappointments during his tenure at Dwelling Place over the years. But what has been most difficult for him is how long it took to revive Heartside. At the same time, though, he realizes that it took even longer for the neighborhood to decline. The downslide began after World War II ended and it hit bottom in the early 1980s when boarded-up buildings were a common sight. “So when you think about how long it took to go down and put that same time period on how long it may take to bring it back, it helps put everything in context,” he said.

“Personally, I think that increasing the density in a neighborhood in terms of who lives and works here is often a cure for blight and for economic-development problems. If you think about the large cities with downtowns, the ones that are most successful have lots of people living and working there. And I think we have to have the same kind of thinking about downtown and areas like Heartside because there is a tremendous potential to grow, and to get that kind of density is really the key to economic vitality,” he added.

Despite the current economic conditions, Sturtevant was quick to say that the future looks good for that growth. He said Grand Rapids still has more potential to grow and provide everyone with opportunities than most other Michigan cities. He also thinks the same also holds true for Heartside.

“We’re going to have starts and stops here and we’re going to have disappointments. But I think in the long haul, I don’t think the course is going to go backwards here. Too much has been done. Too much has been invested. There isn’t a pattern of disinvestment in this neighborhood, it’s the other way. So I think that’s the positive side,” he said.

“We can find some neighborhoods within the city and certainly within the state where disinvestment is occurring; foreclosures and all that. But that’s not happening here in this neighborhood. Things have been put on hold for some projects and people aren’t jumping on the bandwagon to do project after project, but I look at that as a bit of a hiatus and not a reversal. So I’m pretty positive about this area.”

 

Share: