DeVos family office to move headquarters to 200 Monroe building

DeVos family office to move headquarters to 200 Monroe building

 

GRAND RAPIDS — The DeVos family office announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase a vacant office building in downtown Grand Rapids.

RDV Corp., the family office for the DeVoses, agreed in principle to purchase the 100,000-square-foot office building at 200 Monroe Ave. NW from CWD Real Estate Investment LLC. According to a statement, RDV Corp. plans to renovate and expand the five-story building and use it as headquarters.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We believe that 200 Monroe is an important piece of downtown’s core,” RDV Chairman Dick DeVos said in a statement. “We’re excited to breathe new life into this more than 50-year-old building, modernizing its overall appearance and opening it up to street level.”

Ottawa Avenue Private Capital, an affiliated investment advisory firm, and the DeVos family foundations also will move into the space when it’s completed.

Currently, RDV Corp. and the family foundations are spread throughout downtown Grand Rapids in buildings owned by the family office at 126 Ottawa, 116 Ottawa, and 98 Ottawa. A spokesperson for RDV Corp. says the company has no plans currently for the spaces.

“Our staff will move from the buildings we currently occupy, but as far as plans for the future use of those buildings, we don’t have plans for that at this time,” said Nick Wasmiller, spokesman for RDV.

Construction on the building, which has been vacant for nearly a year, is slated to begin this winter and will last for more than two years. The purchase included 200 Monroe and connected parking.

Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction Co. Inc. will serve as the general contractor for the project, which is being designed by AMDG Architects Inc., also of Grand Rapids.

According to a statement from RDV, design plans will include “extensive exterior renovations,” including a new entrance onto Monroe Avenue, where there is currently no access. It also includes the removal of concrete facade and dark tinted windows for “a more modern design.”

RDV plans to extend the building to the south, as well as reconfigure the rooftop HVAC equipment to allow for the addition of office space to be built on top of the current building.

The building was built in 1967 by the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company, and was last occupied by Fifth Third Bank. It was built as part of the Vandenberg Center, a federal urban renewal project in the 1960s that led to the construction of Vandenberg (Calder) Plaza and several government buildings.

CWD purchased the building in 2016, along with 111 Lyon St. NW, for $31 million from Fifth Third Bank, as MiBiz previously reported. Dan DeVos is a principal and partner in CWD Real Estate Investment.

In a statement, CWD Managing Partner Sam Cummings described the building as a “key component of the area’s revitalization.” He told MiBiz this is the second phase of the transformation of the Vandenberg Center, the first being at 250 Monroe with the addition of Bank of America and the restaurant Roam by San Chez.

“Our goal, together with our customers, anchor tenants, is to activate the ground floors with good co-tenancy that are constructive uses for are city, complementive to the convention center, etc., etc.,” Cummings said.

More information on the next phases will come in future months as CWD secures tenants for the ground floors for the entire piece of property on Monroe and Lyon.

“We know the DeVos family does things well, and we know this building will be extremely well-done from an architecture and design perspective,” Cummings said. “The fundamentals of this property are, in our opinion, the best in the entire downtown.”


EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with comment from CWD Managing Partner Sam Cummings and to clarify that CWD will be seeking tenants for the space.