Goodspeed Building

You're looking at a downtown condo building where the walk to dinner is literally steps—and I mean that: restaurants cluster so densely here (480 within a mile) that you're never more than a block from something worth eating. Coffee shops the same way. The transit stop is just outside your door, which matters if you're the type who prefers not to hunt for parking, and the Gerald R. Ford airport is a straight shot at just under 21 minutes if you travel regularly. Rosa Parks Circle, one of the area's better-designed public spaces, is a two-minute walk, and there are 32 parks within a mile if you need grass and trees—which you will, eventually. Grocery shopping takes about 13 minutes on foot, which is reasonable. What makes this spot work, though, is that it's actual Downtown, not some converted warehouse two blocks off the action. You're in the part of Grand Rapids where things actually happen, where the schools are Grand Rapids Public Schools, and where living in a condo means you signed up for proximity over acreage. Homes here run in the range that reflects central location, and if you know downtown living—if you've done it elsewhere and decided you wanted it again—you already know whether this works for you.