GRAND RAPIDS — Earlier this month, the Grand Rapids City Commission and the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority approved a memorandum of understanding that could result in a new 14,000-seat waterfront amphitheater downtown.

Land banks are emerging as an important resource to help fill the affordable housing shortage communities are facing in West Michigan and across the state.

GRAND RAPIDS — The owners of the 20 Monroe Live concert venue space and The B.O.B. are looking to sell their downtown real estate as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the entertainment and hospitality industries, MiBiz has learned.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority has approved plans for a public-private partnership that relocates sewer infrastructure allowing for a waterfront amphitheater downtown.

KALAMAZOO — The final piece of a major revitalization project turning what is known as the Performance Paper Mill Site into a health services campus was recently completed by Lansing-based Boji Group.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have taken the initial steps of a planned public-private partnership that could redevelop a city-owned waterfront property near downtown into a 14,000-seat amphitheater.

West Michigan construction firms are reporting dramatic increases in the cost of materials and project delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the restaurant, office and retail sectors. 

Emily Doerr was hired last month as the new executive director of the Michigan State Land Bank Authority. In her new role, the Flint resident will lead the strategic direction of the State Land Bank, which serves 37 counties in Michigan and owns 2,676 land parcels. 

Business has been brutal this year at the Holland Town Center outdoor mall because of COVID-19 shutdown orders, compounded by the fact that unique retailers don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach for adapting to state orders.

West Michigan cities are examining new policies to expand affordable housing and create a supportive environment for developers as studies show an ongoing need for more units.

GRAND RAPIDS — Bazzani Building Co. is moving its offices from Wealthy Street to a property it is redeveloping as part of a mixed-use project on the city’s West Side.

PLAINFIELD TWP. — Plainfield Township officials are planning to create a brownfield authority to incentivize the redevelopment of distressed properties throughout the municipality north of Grand Rapids. 

Two West Michigan affordable housing projects have secured $1.9 million in a recent funding round from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.

GRAND JUNCTION — Boutique contractor Integro Builders LLC is moving its headquarters from Chicago to West Michigan where it plans to expand and meet growing demand caused by the pandemic.

WALKER — Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. is proposing a 113,000-square-foot package sorting and delivery facility in Walker, just north of I-96. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The business group that pushed several major developments over the past 25 years is now focused on a downtown convention center expansion, an amphitheater and a professional soccer stadium.

Occupancy rates are slowly inching back up, but regional tourism leaders say it will take years for hotels to make up for lost profits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

KENTWOOD — Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes has purchased a commercial office building in Kentwood where the nonprofit will consolidate a series of business education programs for K-12 students across West Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids City Commission has approved a brownfield tax incentive plan for a 10-unit apartment project in the city’s East Hills neighborhood.

GRAND RAPIDS — Local housing nonprofits are beginning to vet dozens of vacant properties made available through the state’s Land Bank Authority in an effort to fill the city’s need for affordable housing.

GRAND RAPIDS — Genesis Non-Profit Housing Corp. is planning a multi-family housing development with 38 apartment units earmarked for affordable housing on the city’s West Side.

GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP — An Indianapolis-based developer is planning a 320-unit luxury apartment complex along Beltline Avenue northeast of Grand Rapids.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids City Commission has approved zoning changes and a community partnership agreement meant to enforce social equity for the planned Boston Square Together mixed use development on the city’s southeast side.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Michigan Strategic Fund board has approved brownfield tax incentives totaling $4.4 million for the renovation of the Vandenberg Center in downtown Grand Rapids to transform the underutilized properties.

GRAND RAPIDS — After the Grand Rapids City Commission voted last month to fast track recreational cannabis businesses, the U.S. Green Building Council of West Michigan recognized the city could soon see grow operations using massive amounts of energy.

GRAND RAPIDS — A developer’s plan to add a six-story affordable housing building to a historic structure in Grand Rapids’ Heartside neighborhood has stalled after failing to gain enough support from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

GRAND RAPIDS — The city of Grand Rapids has walked away from a nearly $270 million proposal to redevelop prime city-owned riverfront property after its chosen developer failed to secure crucial tax incentives for the project.

The industrial sector in West Michigan has been the quickest in the real estate market to bounce back from the pandemic, nearly returning to where it was pre-COVID-19.

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers are planning 48 units of senior housing on a vacant 7.3-acre property near Breton Village despite opposition from some surrounding neighbors.

GRAND RAPIDS — The city of Grand Rapids has hired an architecture firm to study the feasibility of relocating city operations from prime riverfront property near downtown that has been eyed for redevelopment for years.

GRAND RAPIDS — Artificial intelligence is growing increasingly common in the construction industry to automate mundane yet critical tasks.

KENTWOOD — Alro Plastics has a new Grand Rapids-area location slated to open in the coming spring.