Chris Kennal's apartment

Chris Kennal's apartment, located on the second floor of 417 S. Michigan Ave. in Big Rapids, MI, is a location for some scenes in the Sims 4 comic version of Blood Over Water.

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This location was built originally in 1900. This residence consists of four major rooms, divided into four studio apartments, two such apartments to a floor, with laundry options available. The rent at this location is about $750 a month, as of 2021. Little other information can be easily gathered without talking to Real Property Investment Solutions realtors. The appeal of this location, is its ready walking distance proximity to the campus of Ferris State. While it's feasible in an alternate timeline to be available to rent for almost anyone, Ferris students are a top priority for housing in real life. It is based on the actual location, though it takes some artistic license with leasing options in relation to real life.

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While never significant during the Ferris study years, it became retroactively significant as the split house / apartment setup where Chris Kennal was residing during Blood Over Water. This was due to the fact that the character had to be living somewhere other than Hillcrest, given that actor Chris Wilson's apartment was being used as Mark Stefflin's residence.

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After the comic adaptation for Cataclysmic Gerosha was announced, this became officially Chris Kennal's residence in 2009. After he leaves Big Rapids to rescue Ashley, he only returns once to Big Rapids briefly - to end the lease agreement on his apartment early, and then flee for a life on the road. The apartment's fate after this remains unknown.

Specs

 * Housing types: Studio, 1-bedroom ($10 more for rent)
 * Section 8 housing: No
 * $40/month additional rent per pet.
 * Cats allowed.

Nearby early education

 * Riverview Elementary School
 * Mecosta-Osceola Education Center School
 * St. Peter Lutheran Private School
 * St. Mary Catholic Private School
 * Big Rapids Middle School
 * Crossroads Charter Academy

Nearby later education

 * Crossroads Charter Academy
 * Big Rapids Middle School
 * Big Rapids High School
 * Mecosta-Osceola Education Center School
 * Ferris State University

Nearby grocers

 * Meijer
 * Wal-Mart
 * Aldi
 * Johnny's Markets
 * Dollar Tree
 * Big Rapids EZ Mart
 * Kilwins of Big Rapids
 * Old Pioneer Store and Emporium
 * Family Dollar
 * Red Fox Market
 * Eastside Market
 * The Market at Ferris State

Nearby fast food

 * Culver's
 * Jimmy John's
 * Arby's
 * Qdoba
 * KFC
 * Long John Silver's
 * Domino's
 * Burger King
 * Little Caesar's
 * Taco Bell
 * Wendy's
 * McDonald's
 * Fatty C's Doghouse
 * A&W
 * Subway
 * State Street Scoops
 * Pizza Hut
 * Nawals's Mediterranean Grille

Nearby insurance firms

 * Farm Bureau Insurance
 * Farmers Insurance
 * Bleeker Insurance Services
 * Bush Insurance Agency
 * Red Insurance
 * Schuberg Insurance
 * Bridge Title Agency
 * Daum-Meemic
 * Big Rapids Insurance
 * AAA
 * Wenger Insurance

Nearby gas stations

 * Meijer
 * Wesco
 * Marathon
 * Admiral
 * BP
 * Sunoco

Nearby pharmacies

 * Meijer
 * Wal-Mart
 * Walgreens
 * Rite Aid
 * HomeTown Pharmacy
 * Family Dollar

Area crime rate
Note: All data listed here is from 2019, given 2020-released FBI statistics. These are only the incidents actually submitted to the FBI after screening by local police reports, and not indicative of all possible incidents that went unreported.


 * Murder: 0
 * Rape: 6 (57.8 per capita)
 * Robbery: 0
 * Assault: 20 (192.5 per capita)
 * Burglary: 18 (173.3 per capita)
 * Standard theft: 114 (1,097.3 per capita)
 * Vehicular theft: 3 (28.9 per capita)

The most dangerous region of town in our Earth number appears to be Locust St., near the Spectrum Health Hospital.

Cost of living
All costs considered, it's estimated that the cost of living in one of these rooms with no pets for a single tenant would come to $1,655 per month on average given all expected expenditures. This comes to $19,860 for a single school year. Assuming no tuition or other assistance from grants or loans, a student would need to earn about $28,000 a year in order to live comfortably here, or about $2,340 a month. This would require said student to only attend a semester part time, while also working a full time schedule per week of at least 40 hours at a rate of at least $13/hr., or else work 30 hours a week at $17/hr. At these rates, Chris would need to be in a nice spot under Bob (and later, Clyde) in order to qualify to make enough money to comfortably live in a bare bones apartment in Big Rapids.

Even if one winds back the clock to pre-Obamacare Michigan insurance rates, Chris Kennal would have faced tremendous temptation to assist Clyde in some criminal activity, just due to the sheer pressure of lack of good-paying jobs in the area combined with very high leasing rates and high additional living costs.

Chris' apartment in Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff
This apartment was reconstructed as best as possible from shots from Google Street View, including for its backside. The interior is largely guesswork, given limited availability of screenshots online. The tour in 2020 that was supposed to provide screenshots proved fruitless, as lockdown protocols made realtors unwilling to schedule a tour for game designers not interested in actually renting the location. As such, layout of each apartment is not guaranteed to have any real-world accuracy.