The Rapid paid $800,000 over appraised value to acquire a commercial building near its Central Station campus, a premium the transit agency said was necessary to secure property in downtown Grand Rapids’ increasingly competitive real estate market.
Interurban Transit Partnership (ITP), which provides transportation services under the moniker The Rapid, acquired the leased-up 24,242-square-foot building on Oct. 29 for $3.4 million from a limited partnership affiliated with Grand Rapids-based commercial real estate firm DeVries Properties.
Located at 600 Century Ave. SW, the three-story building has three tenants, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates the Health Care for Homeless Veterans program from the space. The Veterans Affairs program has a lease through July 31, 2031, which The Rapid plans to honor, CEO Deborah Prato wrote in an Oct. 2 letter to the Federal Transit Administration…