There was a time in our fair city when the plot of land at 430 Ionia St. SW was just a forlorn looking abandoned building. Then came the Downtown Market.

This unique one click view of the transformation of the project from nothing to something is kind of a statement on the transformation of downtown Grand Rapids as a whole over the past few years.

Go here and click on the photo and watch it transform before your eyes.

The first photo from October 2011 shows the abandoned building and sad looking parking lot.

Google Earth
Google Earth
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But after the click, you see the improvements made to what is now the Downtown Market.

Google Earth
Google Earth
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Other transformations around town shared on the the Grand Rapids subreddit page at Reddit.com include this look at the Wealthy and Jefferson area.

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