Sep 2, 2025
A longtime Grand Rapids property owner plans to invest about $3.5 million to redevelop vacant property along a bustling southeast side corridor into housing and commercial space with backing from the city.
Fred Morales, a local landlord and business owner, hopes to redevelop three parcels he owns at 30 and 40 Martin Luther King Jr. St SE and 807 Sheldon Ave. SE into a 16-unit mixed-use housing and commercial project. The parcels, which total about 0.25 acres, are at the corner of Sheldon and MLK, just a couple blocks east of South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids’ South East Community Action (SECA) neighborhood.
The Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority on Aug. 27 approved a $200,000 emerging developer grant in support of the project.
Morales acquired 40 MLK St. at auction in 2004 for $38,000. Ten years later, he acquired the vacant lot next door at 30 MLK St. SE for $2,500 from Esther Wikel. The parcel at 807 Sheldon was a state land bank property he bought in 2018 for $350.
Morales also owns several other properties throughout West Michigan, including homes he rents out in Muskegon and some land in Grand Rapids. Morales also owns the Grand Rapids auto detailing business MF Shine and the car dealership M&F Auto near the intersection of Division Avenue and 28th Street, and owns a few Metro by T-Mobile stores in Grand Rapids...