Fancy’s work
on South Division
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MIDPOINT Fancy Real Estate’s Work on South Division 8 TRANSACTIONS 33,685 FILLED SF (APPROXIMATE) 18 MONTHS March 2025 to September 2026 Division Avenue South Fulton to Wealthy Grand Rapids, Michigan rhizestrategy.com in partnership with
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Fancy Real Estate’s Work FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS on South Division 8 TRANSACTIONS 33,685 FILLED SF (APPROXIMATE) 18 MONTHS The work crossed different owners, seven leases and one acquisition, and three brokerage positions: landlord representation, tenant and transaction representation, and buyer representation. The spaces ranged from a 450 sf historic storefront to a 13,179 sf former restaurant and an 11,674 sf former clinic. Each required a workable match between the building, its owner, and the people who would use it. That meant some degree of reuse or adaptation, an assessment of what the business would add to the corridor, and whether South Division could support the business in return. South Division already had a creative economy, independent merchants, housing, institutions, and cultural organizations. Fancy worked within that established district, helping businesses find space and owners find uses their buildings could accommodate. In 18 months, Fancy Real Estate completed eight transactions totaling approximately 33,685 sf on South Division. The work helped independent businesses open shops and studios and secured new uses for two large vacant properties: the former Rockwell Republic restaurant and the former clinic at 359 S Division. This case follows the decisions behind those transactions and the corridor conditions around them. Rhize’s Starting Point and Midpoint Functional Diversity Diagnostics show how South Division changed over the same period, including businesses and activity that developed independently of Fancy’s work. 02
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Eight transactions on South Division 60/62 · Olivia Easterday Photography 2,128 sf Operating 111 · Office User (Unnamed) 2,000 sf Occupied · Non-storefront 235 · Selah Studio 974 sf Operating 313 · Dolly’s Delights 980 sf Operating 341 · Private retailer 450 sf Signed · Not open 349 · Starbird Tattoo Studio 2,300 sf Operating 359 · Endcap 11,674 sf Building active · Spaces fully leased 45 · Array of Engineers 13,179 sf Acquired · Reuse underway A completed real estate transaction connects a commercial space with a committed use through a lease or acquisition. Construction, opening and operating performance are reported separately from the transaction itself. The office at 111 Division is outside the storefront census. Direct outcomes are transactions Fancy executed. Contributory actions are documented Fancy participation as one input among several. Concurrent activity occurred during the same period without a Fancy transaction or claimed role. FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS 03
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Before FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS South Division entered 2025 with a commercial and cultural identity built over decades. Avenue for the Arts, galleries, studios and live-work spaces had established a long-running creative economy. Independent vintage, music, food and retail businesses operated alongside nonprofit and neighborhood-serving institutions. Affordable housing, permanent supportive housing and live-work properties placed residents directly on and around the corridor. Historic commercial buildings provided storefronts ranging from very small retail spaces to large former restaurant and institutional properties. That activity extended across properties held by different owners. Building conditions varied and vacancies appeared on multiple blocks among occupied businesses, housing and institutions. On March 18, 2025, the storefront census documents 22 vacant spaces out of 80. Occupied storefronts with curtained, obscured or visually inactive windows are not counted as vacant. 04
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Observe FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS Fancy saw value in South Division’s existing businesses, buildings, and daily life that its commercial reputation had yet to catch up with. In December 2024, prior to the first transaction in this case, Fancy’s founder and managing broker Hannah Greening was already writing about filling vacancies and making commercial spaces more conducive to street-level activity. Her writing provides a contemporary record of the opportunity she saw. Residents, independent merchants, arts organizations, historic buildings, and transit gave prospective businesses a reason to consider South Division. Bamboo’s planned entrepreneurship center at Fulton added the prospect of more workers, meetings, and recurring visits. Fancy later moved its office into Bamboo. Meetings, building tours, and walks between available spaces became part of the working day. That presence made it easier to explain the corridor through the places and people already there. A prospective tenant could reject one storefront and still belong on South Division. Keeping that prospective tenant in the search meant knowing the other buildings, their owners, and the constraints that might make the next space a better fit. 05
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Diagnose Rhize’s Starting Point FDD records corridor conditions on March 18, 2025: 47 / Strained, with 22 of 80 street-level spaces vacant and another 23 occupied-inactive. That baseline makes the gaps in daily use visible alongside the corridor’s established assets. The 22 vacant spaces carried different histories and obstacles. Each owner made decisions about their own properties, and leasing efforts varied along the corridor. A prospect who did not fit one property could easily be lost even when another South Division building might work. The vacancies were also discontinuous. Active destinations existed, but vacant storefronts between them interrupted the commercial connection from one business or block to the next. Several spaces had building-specific constraints that a conventional replacement-tenant search was unlikely to solve. The former Rockwell Republic building contained 13,179 sf and required a change in use, a Special Land Use process, accessibility work and a substantial adaptive-reuse investment. The former clinic at 359 S Division contained 11,674 sf, had been dark for approximately seven years and was not being subdivided by the owner. Other vacancies were small historic storefronts that could work for independent operators because of their scale, but only if the business model, build-out burden and location case aligned. FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS Use Mix & Concentration Economic Resilience Community Rootedness & Governance Continuity & Gap Pattern DayPart Activity Coverage Physical Conditions & Legacy Assets / 100 · STRAINED 06
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Strategy FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS The strategic recommendations surfaced through Rhize’s South Division starting point FDD gave Fancy direction as opportunities developed. 01 Work across the available properties. Fancy used landlord, tenant, transaction, and buyer representation to help viable users find a place on South Division. Each deal retained its own client relationship; knowledge of other buildings helped keep the search moving. 02 Make the location understandable. The Bamboo office gave Fancy a base for meetings and corridor tours. Writing, social media, direct outreach, and speaking brought the street into consideration; visits let prospects judge its buildings, businesses, and possibilities for themselves. 03 Consider what a use gives and receives. A studio could draw from the arts district while adding classes and recurring visits. Food businesses needed routine trade from residents and workers. A professional employer could use the downtown location and bring a weekday presence to nearby shops. 04 Keep viable demand on South Division. When an initial space did not fit, an owner chose another applicant, or a negotiation fell through, Fancy continued the search along the corridor. Losing one location did not have to mean losing the operator. 05 Choose a structure the building can support. Small storefront leases, temporary office occupancy, an owner-user acquisition, and a whole-building master lease addressed different constraints. Endcap could accommodate smaller operators inside a property its owner would not divide. 06 Build toward the next viable use. Conversations with two independent grocery operators supported the need for a stronger location case. Fancy pursued uses that could work under current conditions and add recurring activity, while the corridor continued to need grocery shopping and dependable lunch service. 07
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Implement The strategy produced eight real estate transactions in 18 months: seven leases and one acquisition, covering approximately 33,685 sf. Opening and operating status are reported separately from the completed transactions. The transactions show how the approach changed with the space and the people using it. FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS 60/62 · Olivia Easterday Photography 2,128 sf · Operating Vacant commercial space to working photography studio. 111 · Office User (Unnamed) 2,000 sf · Occupied · Non-storefront Vacant commercial space to office use outside the storefront census. 235 · Selah Studio 974 sf · Operating Small storefront to pottery, classes, and creative-wellness use. 313 · Dolly’s Delights 980 sf · Operating Vacancy to a first permanent food-and-retail storefront. 341 · Private Retailer 450 sf · Signed · Not open A newly vacant small storefront committed to its next retailer. 349 · Starbird Tattoo Studio 2,300 sf · Operating Vacancy to an appointment-based creative-service business. 359 · Endcap 11,674 sf · Building active Spaces fully leased A seven-year dark clinic moved to a master-lease structure for smaller operators. 45 · Array of Engineers 13,179 sf · Acquired · Reuse underway Former restaurant acquired for an owner-occupied engineering headquarters. 08
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Steward FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS Fancy’s daily presence on South Division connected the real estate work with the people and conditions around it. A base at Bamboo Fancy’s office at Bamboo made South Division part of the team’s working day. Meetings, building tours, and walks between available spaces provided regular contact with neighboring businesses and property owners. That presence kept the team close to the corridor as businesses prepared to open and new opportunities developed. CPTED and the public realm The March 2026 Heartside Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessment identified lighting gaps and visibility problems. Its findings provided a basis for continued work on entrances, lighting, and the routes between destinations. Those conditions matter to the people arriving at a business, leaving work, or walking to a neighbor. Heartside Business Association Through her separate role as Heartside Business Association (HBA) vice president, Hannah worked on Downtown Ambassador attention, public-restroom access, and coordination with corridor partners. HBA brought another setting for staying in contact with local businesses and addressing shared concerns. That work belonged to HBA and its partners where they held responsibility. Getting to know the neighbors The relationships developed through everyday conversations, introductions, and time spent on the street. Knowing the neighbors gave Fancy a more current understanding of what was happening nearby and who to contact when a business needed support. Introductions, promotion, and coordination continued as operators moved from a completed transaction toward opening. 09
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RHIZE / SOUTH DIVISION MIDPOINT CASE STUDY Midpoint FULTON TO WEALTHY / GRAND RAPIDS 10 functional diversity score 59 0 50 100 / 100 Midpoint score September 14, 2026 47 at the starting point standing trajectory Strained The score remained within Strained. Regenerating Fragmenting: watch Activity returned; gaps still separated destinations. Critical 0-19 At Risk 20-39 Strained 40-59 Moderate 60-79 Healthy 80-100 Across the same 80 storefronts, physical vacancies fell from 22 to 14 (27.5% to 17.5%). Active spaces increased from 35 to 42, while occupied-inactive spaces increased from 23 to 24. Eleven former vacancies became active and two became occupied-inactive. Nine remained vacant, and five other spaces became vacant during the period. Openings improved the street while losses continued. These are corridor results. Trust and Tellers, Crow’s Hold, and Bamboo added activity independently of Fancy’s transactions. Fancy’s eight transactions include five operating storefront or building-scale uses, an occupied office outside the census at 111, a signed lease awaiting opening at 341, and Array’s acquisition at 45. The eight transactions and eight fewer vacancies describe different outcomes. Looking Ahead Carry the new commitments into everyday use. For owners and committed operators, the next task is to move signed leases and acquisitions through the remaining work toward opening. The timing, premises, and approvals differ by property. For Fancy, continued prospect work can address new vacancies as they appear and help viable operators find the right space. Grocery recruitment should build on the two operator conversations and the final FDD’s findings about residents’ everyday needs. HBA, owners, businesses, and public partners can keep working on windows, entrances, lighting, and the connections between destinations. Those conditions shape how much one opening contributes to its neighbors. Rhize’s next recheck, approximately 18 months after September 2026, should return to the same 80 storefronts. It will test openings and survival, subsequent vacancies, visibility, connected activity, and the range of uses available through the week. COMPANION REPORTS & SOURCES Rhize Urban Strategy. SoDiv Starting Point March 2025. Observation date: March 18, 2025. Final approved PDF. Rhize Urban Strategy. SoDiv Midpoint Recheck September 2026. Observation date: September 14, 2026. Final approved PDF. Transaction records, contemporaneous correspondence, dated observations, and Hannahconfirmed facts, including conversations with two independent grocery operators. Supporting evidence and methodology are retained privately.
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