Amplify GR proposes 9-acre mixed-use redevelopment in Boston Square neighborhood

Amplify GR proposes 9-acre mixed-use redevelopment in Boston Square neighborhood

GRAND RAPIDS — Amplify GR is proposing a large-scale mixed-use district in the city’s Boston Square neighborhood. 

The nonprofit Amplify GR is seeking approval from the Grand Rapids Planning Commission for a 9-acre development that includes housing and commercial space, as well as some street reconfiguration and parking. 

The site is bordered by Kalamazoo Avenue on the west, Fuller Avenue on the east, Evergreen Street to the south and Adams street to the north, in the core of the Boston Square Neighborhood Business District.

“For the last year, a dedicated group of Boston Square-area neighbors and organizations have invested in a collaborative community design process to develop a vision for a nearly 10-acre site in the heart of the Boston Square neighborhood,” Jon Ippel, executive director of Amplify GR, said in a statement to MiBiz.

Amplify GR’s site plan includes 18 townhomes within three buildings along Adams Street; 168 apartments within four buildings along Kalamazoo Avenue and Evergreen Street; 59 senior apartments in buildings off of Fuller Avenue, and 24,493 square feet of retail and commercial space on the ground floor of the three apartment buildings on Kalamazoo. The residential buildings are comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

The organization has worked on the plans for the redevelopment project with Boston Square Together, which includes Oakdale Neighbors, a community development organization; the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative; and the Boston Square Neighborhood Association.

The site contains several active land uses, including Modern Hardware Inc., Standard Kitchens, Living Word Christian Center, Amplify GR’s offices, Good Shepherd Properties used car sales, Yellow Cab, an office building and several single-family homes.

The project takes into consideration the Boston Square area specific plan that was completed in 2010, according to city documents, and has come together through multiple meetings with the community. More than 250 neighbors contributed to the process. Since the area specific plan, neighbors have consistently expressed the need for more retail, food options, banking, childcare, open space and housing at a range of affordability levels.

According to documents Amplify GR submitted to the city, project partners include Northbrook, Ill.-based Brinshore Development LLC, Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction Co. Inc., Chicago-based architecture firm UrbanWorks Ltd., Grand Rapids-based Isaac V. Norris & Associates P.C., Kalamazoo- and Grand Rapids-based landscape architecture firm Viridis Design Group, Grand Rapids-based Integrated Architecture Inc. and Grand Rapids-based engineering firm Nederveld Inc. 

The project will go before the Grand Rapids Planning Commission during the Jan. 9 meeting with a request to rezone several of the properties in the project area, the majority of which are owned by affiliates of Rockford Construction. 

If approved, construction would take place through 2022.