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Kate Carlson

Kate Carlson

Staff Writer, covers real estate and development and small businesses

 

Twitter: @BizCarlson
Email: [email protected]

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers behind the $150 million Factory Yards redevelopment south of downtown Grand Rapids plan to seek rarely used state tax incentives to offset substantial costs of the project.

HOLLAND — Lakewood Construction Co. plans to learn from a recently acquired glazing business to expand its project scope and its footprint into new geographies. 

DOWAGIAC — Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of an Indiana commercial real estate firm.


GRAND RAPIDS — A Grand Rapids architect plans to relocate his firm to a corridor near his childhood home on the city’s northwest side that he sees as the next bustling district in the city.

HOLLAND — A May ballot initiative in which city voters will determine a potential land swap will make or break decades-long efforts to redevelop industrial waterfront property near downtown Holland.

GRAND RAPIDS — A West Michigan housing services and education nonprofit may have to cut back services this year as public funding support flatlines while costs and needs increase.



GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have approved a $2.2 million contract with the architect designing a new public services facility, which will help to facilitate the development of a downtown amphitheater.

KALAMAZOO — The Michigan Strategic Fund board has approved gap and brownfield funding for a highly anticipated, years-long effort to redevelop a vacant property near downtown Kalamazoo into housing and a child care facility.

PLAINFIELD TWP. — Developers have introduced plans for a mixed-use housing project in northwest Plainfield Township that local officials say is a “different way of thinking, … unique” and aligned with broader goals around growing housing density.


GAINES TWP. — Robert Grooters Development Co. plans to break ground in April on a nearly 200,000-square-foot speculative industrial facility just south of Kentwood in Gaines Township.

GRAND RAPIDS — Mayor Rosalynn Bliss outlined the “next version” of Grand Rapids during her eighth State of the City address, emphasizing the need for more housing density to meet demand, completing major riverfront projects and improving policing.

GRAND RAPIDS — State and local housing leaders are beginning to collaborate on ways to accomplish goals established in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Statewide Housing Plan.



GRAND RAPIDS — A West Michigan nonprofit that provides free temporary housing for families of children receiving medical care plans to renovate and expand its Grand Rapids campus after experiencing pandemic-related delays.

GRAND RAPIDS — Sustainability, transportation and placemaking are top priorities for Grand Rapids residents as city officials prepare a 20-year master plan to guide future development.

GRAND RAPIDS — DeVries Jewelers plans to tear down the abandoned Lannings’ restaurant on Grand Rapids’ west side to make way for a new storefront for the fourth-generation, family-owned jewelry retailer. 


GRAND RAPIDS — The developer behind a Grand Rapids workforce housing project that recently broke ground seeks to replace 10 ground-floor apartments with a daycare center to help address the widespread shortage of child care options.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have released a plan for spending $8.5 million in federal funding primarily on repairing or building hundreds of affordable housing units and creating homeownership opportunities.

GRAND RAPIDS — West Michigan workforce development leaders say Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest budget proposal should include a greater focus on short-term training programs and community organizations currently excluded from state-funded talent initiatives.


GRAND RAPIDS — House Rules Board Game Lounge plans to add a kitchen and expand its space to accommodate busy weekends at the bar, which features a collection of board games for customers as well as weekly trivia nights.

GRAND RAPIDS — Less than a decade ago, the Creston Neighborhood was positioned to be “that next hot spot” in the city of Grand Rapids. A developer planned two mixed-use housing projects in the neighborhood’s business district, spurring other businesses to plan for expansion or relocating to the neighborhood.

Some Michigan municipalities are getting creative with how they spend tax revenue coming back from their licensed cannabis businesses, while others are using the annual funding for core services and resolving budget deficits.


GRAND RAPIDS — Developers are making progress on the design and overall vision for a Grand Rapids riverfront amphitheater, which they call “the largest proposed redevelopment of a riverfront in the nation at this point.”

A portfolio of West Michigan businesses has tapped a longtime statewide policy advocate to help lead its strategy to bring more people of color into construction and related sectors.

MUSKEGON — Rake Beer Project LLC is moving its brewery and taproom across downtown Muskegon to the former Pigeon Hill Brewing Co. space, where owners also plan to debut a new coffee concept.


GRAND RAPIDS — A DeVos-owned building with a “long, storied history” in downtown Grand Rapids recently sold for nearly $6.4 million, and is set to once again house a private social club.

KALAMAZOO — The developer of a 15-story mixed-use project in downtown Kalamazoo will now fill one floor with 21 apartments instead of initially planned commercial space, which became “extremely challenging” to fill as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Trans Foundation plans to grow its programming via new office space and a full-time, paid executive director position for the first time in the nonprofit’s seven-year history after being entirely volunteer-run.


From transitioning to being an employee-owned company and moving its headquarters, Twisthink LLC is going through many changes as the digital consulting firm aims to attract more people to its team.

Despite construction cost escalations and a range of delays, real estate development and investment firm Magnus Capital Partners broke ground in December on a 240-unit, $51.5 million multifamily housing project in Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids-based Edustaff LLC has quickly grown over the last dozen years from a regional company to the third-largest staffing organization in the country for substitute teachers.