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Chicago has Rush Street. Detroit has Greektown. Washington, D.C., has Georgetown. St. Louis has LaClede's Landing. New Orleans has the French Quarter. Just about every metropolitan city has an entertainment district.
Grand Rapids will soon have its own version, albeit on a smaller scale. A real estate investment partnership has bought most of the property on the Ionia Avenue block south of Fulton Street with the intention of developing the historic buildings as a night-life area with a complementary blend of restaurants and bars. The block is dubbed Oldtown.
The 1890s-era, brick-and-stone buildings used to be in a thriving part of town, just north of the railroad station. It was the entry point for visitors to the city and a hub of activity.
But the railroad station was torn down long ago. That block of Ionia became an extension of the downtown exit ramp off U.S. 31. The dilapidated buildings served mostly as warehouses or were vacant. Except for one two-story building on the northeast corner that thrived as the Carousel Lounge. It was Grand Rapids' most profitable gay bar.
Rick Ernzer and David Graf bought their first building together in 1985, just one block over from Oldtown on the corner of Fulton Street and Commerce Avenue. The two partners say they make a pretty good team.
Ernzer, 38, president of East Development Corp., has been involved in real estate speculation since he was a young man. He bought his first apartment house when he was 18. He bought a rundown office building with a partner at 24, and promptly sold his residential holdings, consisting of seven...