YEAR IN REVIEW: 2022 West Michigan construction projects

Despite a number of market challenges, construction companies have kicked off myriad multifamily and industrial projects this year, fueled by West Michigan’s housing shortage and the high demand for quality manufacturing space. 

Industry experts believe the infusion of millions of dollars of American Rescue Plan Act funding and other federal stimulus to local municipalities will help numerous large-scale developments get off the ground. To that end, many local municipalities across West Michigan have identified housing projects as a key funding priority for those ARPA dollars. 

While talent shortages, high construction costs and long lead times for materials have slowed some projects, construction leaders are still reporting historic backlogs of projects throughout the region. 

In this special report, MiBiz takes a look back at a 20 high-profile construction projects covered over the last year. 

 

Village East

  • Location: Ada
  • Architect: Ghafari Associates LLC
  • Construction manager:
    Midwest Construction Group Inc.
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: 2023
  • Developer: Wheeler Development Group LLC

Construction is underway on three of the four buildings in the Village East apartment community in downtown Ada. The project broke ground over the summer and will contain 92 luxury apartments consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

The multi-million dollar project located at 7590 E. Fulton St.  was designed purposefully without a retail component so tenants would patronize shops and businesses in downtown Ada, Jason Wheeler, communications director at Wheeler Development, told MiBiz

“This is a slow season in the leasing world, but we’re continuing to see a lot of excitement around bringing residential opportunities to the village of Ada,” Wheeler said. “We have an exhaustive wait list of people who are interested in leasing.”

The goal is to begin pre-leasing units in spring or late winter of 2023 and for the first building in the development to be completed by late summer 2023, Wheeler added. 

 

Hotel Rose

  • Location: Rockford
  • Architect: Ghafari Associates LLC
  • Construction manager: TBD
  • Cost: $10 million
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Wheeler Development Group LLC

Wheeler Development Group is still in the conceptual phase of reviving its previous plans to build a boutique hotel in downtown Rockford on city-owned property. The development group initially gained approval from the city in 2019 to purchase city property at 12 S. Main St. to build a hotel, but plans fell through because of market conditions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The developer now is pursuing a hotel plan similar to its initial proposal for the property, which the city of Rockford approved in October in the form of a $450,000 purchase and development agreement.

“Right now, we’re working with Ghafari to finalize the architectural design, as well as site soil conditions in order to meet requirements stated in the development agreement,” Wheeler Development Communications Director Jason Wheeler told MiBiz. “We’re in the stage of the project where this is where we’ll decide soon if the project is viable, so it’s a pretty critical stage at the project right now.”

The proposed project is located about 2 miles away from the Meijer Sports Complex. Ideally, Wheeler Development would like to construct Hotel Rose to coincide with sports travel in 2024, Wheeler said. 

“In a perfect world, if we could dream it up and everything would work perfectly, we’d be open in May or June 2024 before fall leagues,” Wheeler said. 

 

Fields Cannary

  • Location: Muskegon
  • Architect and construction manager: Illinois-based Grow America Builders LLC
  • Cost: $10 million
  • Completion: 2023
  • Developer: Cory Roberts, Joanne Ramon and
    Edgar Ramon

A group of Michigan- and Chicago-based entrepreneurs have proposed a one-stop cannabis destination that will include a growing and processing facility, dispensary, consumption lounge, outdoor venue, restaurant and bar. 

The Fields Cannary development will be located on 4 acres of property just east of U.S. 31 at 420 S. Harvey St. in Muskegon. A Sons of Norway lodge that currently occupies the site will be renovated into the dispensary, restaurant, bar and consumption lounge portion of the project. The partners will construct a 17,000-square-foot processing center and greenhouse facility on the site with various energy-saving designs, including geothermal heating and cooling to cut down on utility costs. 

The word “cannary” was selected to be the cannabis equivalent of a winery or brewery, Edgar Ramon recently told MiBiz. The goal is to create an “immersive experience surrounded by beautiful vegetation” at Fields Cannary, he added.

 

Profile Films

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Integrated Architecture LLC
  • Construction manager: FCC Construction Inc.
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Profile Films Inc.

Plastic sheeting manufacturer Profile Films Inc. acquired 9 acres of long-vacant industrial property at 719 Ann St. NW with plans to build a 183,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that would be connected via skywalk to itsvcurrent location at 1976 Avastar Parkway NW. Metric Structures LLC is serving as the owners representative on the project. 

Cloud Cannabis Co. had previously proposed a large-scale cannabis growing facility at the site, but later scaled-back plans in reaction to pricing changes in the cannabis market.

 

The McConnell

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Progressive AE Inc.
  • Construction manager: Not disclosed
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: 2024-2025
  • Developer: McConnell GR LLC

Jon Morgan, co-founder of Chicago-based Interra Realty, and Michael Parks, managing partner of Boston-based Spire Investment Properties, are planning a mixed-use, 10-story building on Division Avenue in Grand Rapids. Site plans call for 432 market-rate apartment units, a food hall, retail space and a brewery or distillery.

“We feel the plan and the mixed-use development that we’ve proposed here along with some of the special uses that we’re seeking are key to the development plan being successful,” Morgan, the co-founder and principal of Interra Realty, said at a Nov. 10 Grand Rapids planning commission meeting.

The development will target renters earning 80 percent to 120 percent of the area median income, Progressive AE’s Suzanne Schulz said during the planning commission meeting.

“This hits a niche that is very much needed in the community,” Schulz said.

The food hall, where vendors will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, will also fill a need in that area of downtown, Schulz said.

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Harbor 31. Courtesy Rendering

Harbor 31

  • Location: Muskegon
  • Architect: Henrickson Architecture
  • Construction manager: Wolverine Building Group Inc.
  • Cost: $130 million
  • Completion: 2025 (estimated)
  • Developer: Harbor 31 LLC

The 31-acre Harbor 31 development along Muskegon Lake broke ground in August at 650 Terrace St., north of Shoreline Drive. The massive development is slated to include apartments, single-family homes, an 85,000-square-foot senior living facility, 107-room hotel, restaurant, retail space and a marina. Yet another lot in the project could be developed for office or storage space.

Dan Henrickson, who owns Henrickson Architecture and is part of the Harbor 31 LLC development, purchased the lakeshore property in 2007. The development group, which also includes Great Lakes Capital, pivoted to a mixed-use development that Henrickson expects will be fully complete in 2025.

“We’re just going at a steady pace getting through the project,” Henrickson said. “It’s different than development was a few years ago with the cost of goods, but we’re always working through finding solutions to keep moving. Nothing is traditional anymore; you just need to find some way to make it work.”

The residential portion includes 30 single-family homes in the Viridian Shores community, the 134-unit Harbor Commons apartment complex, and the 21-unit The Meadows townhouse rental community. 

The project’s marina will feature retail boat sales and rental space with a 10,000-square-foot field dock. Henrickson expects it will be installed in the spring of 2023.

 

Portage industrial project

  • Location: Portage
  • Design/build contractor: Wolverine Building Group Inc. 
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: Not disclosed
  • Developer: Industrial Partners USA LLC 

Industrial Partners USA, a joint venture of Portage-based Clark Logic LLC and Great Lakes Capital, a real estate private equity firm based in South Bend, Ind., broke ground in July on a 240,000-square-foot industrial development in Portage along the I-94 corridor. The project is backed by $2 million in brownfield incentives and started out as a spec building, but was leased to a local manufacturing company for last-mile distribution. The two companies formed the Industrial Partners USA joint venture in 2019 to add new industrial inventory in Southwest Michigan.

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Children’s rehabilitation hospital. COurtesy Image

Children’s rehabilitation hospital

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: TBD
  • Construction manager: TBD
  • Cost: $60 million
  • Completion: April 2026
  • Developer: Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and Corewell Health

Plans emerged in July for the state’s first free standing children’s rehabilitation hospital, which will be located across from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital’s main campus at 235 Wealthy St. SE and connected to the building by a skywalk.

The facility would have 24 private inpatient rooms, outpatient treatment areas, spaces for specialized services, recreation areas for children of all ages and a classroom for a certified teacher to help patients keep up with their school work. The facility will offer more than 40 specialized rehabilitation programs.

The project team has yet to choose a construction manager and architectural firm for the project. Project bids went out to local and national firms, which the team has narrowed to four companies for a construction manager and architect, Mary Free Bed spokesperson Chris Mills told MiBiz via email.

The project is targeted for an April 2024 ground breaking with construction expected to last for two years. The partners acknowledge the amount of work that still needs to be done before construction starts, but they are on track with the preliminary schedule, Mills said.

Mary Free Bed and Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital clinicians have been meeting for more than a year to discuss services they will provide in the new hospital, Mills added. The new hospital will increase access to rehabilitation services for children, allow both hospital groups to serve more children in need of care, reduce health care costs, and establish a pediatric rehabilitation medical residency program. 

The health systems expect 2,000 to 2,500 additional children will be able to receive rehabilitation services annually with the new hospital, Mills said.

 

408-unit apartment project

  • Location: Grandville
  • Architect: Ghafari Associates LLC
  • Construction manager: CD Barnes Construction
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Trilogy Real Estate

A Chicago-based developer has started construction on the 408-unit Rivertown Commons apartment project that’s transforming a 30-acre former greenhouse site at 4612 Ivanrest Ave. in Grandville. The development plans call for 12 different three-story apartment buildings and a range of amenities, including a clubhouse, dog park, fitness studio, pool and sundeck. The market-rate units will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

 

Eastern Kille Distillery relocation

  • Location: Plainfield Township
  • Architect: Mathison | Mathison Architects
  • Construction manager: Wolverine Building Group Inc.
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: Spring 2023
  • Developer: Eastern Kille Distillery

Eastern Kille Distillery is breaking ground this month on its new facility in Plainfield Charter Township, where the spirits maker will relocate from Grand Rapids. The 16-acre property on Childsdale Avenue along the White Pine Trail will feature a 10,360-square-foot distillery, a separate 4,144-square-foot tasting room with food service, and an outdoor cocktail garden with space for live music and fire pits. 

Eastern Kille signed a lease extension at its current Monroe North location, where it will be able to continue operating its production and tasting room until Sept. 30, 2023. The distillery came up against some delays in the design stage for its new location, but expects to be open along White Pine Trail by Labor Day next year.

“We’re really excited to be really close to breaking ground,” Eastern Kille co-owner Brandon Voorhees told MiBiz. “Everything is finalized, so now it’s time to move forward and see some progress on the building front.”

 

Lake Macatawa waterfront 

  • Location: Holland
  • Architect: TBD
  • Construction manager: TBD
  • Cost: TBD
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Geenen DeKock Properties Group LLC

In early 2022, Holland city officials started reviewing the sole proposal from Geenen DeKock Property Group LLC (GDK) to redevelop the Lake Macatawa waterfront with four residential buildings with 108 units and covered ground-floor parking, a 50-room hotel, a marina with private and transient slips, restaurants, and a docking area for cruise ships. GDK would acquire the 17-acre property of the former James DeYoung power plant then execute a land swap with Verplank Dock Co., which operates just west along Lake Macatawa. Holland City Manager Keith Van Beek told MiBiz that the proposal will likely still be under consideration early next year.

 

Gun Lake Casino expansion

  • Location: Wayland
  • Architect: HBG Design
  • Construction manager: Clark Construction Co.
  • Cost: $300 million
  • Completion: 2025
  • Developer: Gun Lake Tribe

The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, or Gun Lake Tribe, is in the middle of its $300 million expansion project at Gun Lake Casino. The Phase 5 expansion will add a 15-story, 220-room, four-diamond hotel that will transform the casino into a “stay and play” operation for the first time in its history. The project also will add a striking new glass-domed multipurpose space that includes a pool and will double as an entertainment venue for concerts and shows. Executives said the new amenities will allow Gun Lake Casino to better serve the local market demand as well as broaden its reach regionally. The tribe expects the project to wrap up by mid 2025.

 

Tall Timbers Portage

  • Location: Portage
  • Architect: Progressive AE Inc.
  • Construction manager: AVB Construction LLC
  • Cost: $48 million
  • Completion: 2024
  • Developer: H & G II LLC

Tall Timbers Portage LLC, a venture of Portage-based developer The Hinman Co. and Joseph Gesmundo, co-founder of Portage-based AVB Construction LLC, broke ground in October on the 180-unit apartment project and 147-space parking deck in the city of Portage. The project at a former dump site is the seventh phase of build-out for the Greenspire planned unit development.

The city and Michigan Strategic Fund are supporting the project with tax incentives. Portage  identified Tall Timbers as a priority because it will help address housing needs driven partly by expansion projects at nearby companies including Stryker Corp. and Pfizer Inc. Ten percent of the housing units will be reserved for households earning between 80 percent and 120 percent of the area median income. 

 

Center for Transformation and Innovation

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Seattle-based NBBJ, various other partners
  • Construction manager: Rockford Construction Co.
  • Cost: $100 million
  • Completion: Summer of 2023
  • Developer: Corewell Health
    (formerly Spectrum Health)
     

Formerly known as Spectrum Health, Corewell Health is constructing an office campus along Bond Avenue NW in Grand Rapids’ Monroe North neighborhood. Crews are currently working to build a new eight-story, 157,000-square-foot building that will be connected by a two-story bridge to the existing BrassWorks building. The project also will include two, seven-story parking structures.

The health system proposed the new campus to consolidate about 1,200 employees who are currently spread across 13 offices. Corewell previously said it planned to hire 600 additional employees to work out of the Center for Transformation and Innovation offices. 

 

Sligh Building

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Boston-based Touloukian Touloukian Inc.
  • Construction manager: TBD
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Sturgeon Bay Partners

Detroit-based developer Sturgeon Bay Partners will likely scale back the number of apartments for the Sligh Building project from the 753 units the company initially planned. 

The development at 446 Grandville Ave. SW near downtown Grand Rapids calls for the renovation of the historic former Sligh Furniture Building into apartment units and retail space, as well as a cafe and five-story parking garage on site. 

“We are exploring all options for the space, but are still planning on doing a couple hundred apartments, retail and we’re looking at some other options with different uses as well. We are charging ahead on the project and starting work next year,” Sturgeon Bay Partners co-founder John Gibbs told MiBiz in October.

The development team is also looking at potentially adding other site uses, such as light manufacturing. 

 

Studio Park expansion

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Integrated Architecture LLC
  • Construction manager: Rockford Construction Co. Inc.
  • Cost: $52 million
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Olsen Loeks Development LLC

Grand Rapids-based Olsen Loeks Development is building a 16-story, 212,000-square-foot addition to the existing Studio Park parking ramp located at 120 Ottawa Ave. just south of Van Andel Arena. The addition will include 165 apartment units and 24 to 30 condominium units. The studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments are aimed at renters making 120 percent to 150 percent of the area median income.

The first story of new construction on the parking ramp is also set to include amenities such as a 700-square-foot art gallery, pool, fitness space and community center. 

web_photos_12.5.22_copy4.jpgAlabama Lofts. Courtesy Image

Alabama Lofts

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Integrated Architecture LLC
  • Construction manager: Rockford Construction Co.
  • Cost: Not disclosed
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Rockford Construction Co.

Rockford Construction Co. has proposed a seven-story, 245-unit apartment building and 310-space parking deck at 501 and 516 Alabama Ave. NW, just east of the company’s headquarters on Grand Rapids’ west side. The proposed seven-story building features a U-shaped design with frontage on Alabama Avenue and wings extending around the corners of First and Second Streets. 

Previously, Consumers Energy eyed the property for a $20 million office building and housing development for up to 275 of its employees, but the 2018 plans for the six-story building never materialized.

 

Lofts on Grove

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Lott3Metz Architecture LLC
  • Construction manager: First Companies Inc.
  • Cost: $24.4 million
  • Completion: 2024
  • Developer: First Companies Inc. 

Developer First Companies plans a four-story, mixed-use apartment building in Grand Rapids’ Creston Neighborhood. Crews have already started demolition on two aging structures at 1329 and 1359 Plainfield Ave. NE to make way for the 110-unit market-rate apartment complex.

Plans call for a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, with a parking lot immediately west of the project at 1367 Grove Place NE. The project includes about 3,500 square feet of retail, while the rest of the building — including some of the ground-floor space — would be apartments.

The design for the entire building leverages precast concrete panels, which are more cost-effective, deliver better soundproofing and privacy for the units and can be erected easier during the winter months. 

 

Grand Rapids amphitheater

  • Location: Grand Rapids
  • Architect: Detroit-based Rossetti Inc. and Progressive AE Inc.
  • Construction manager: TBD
  • Cost: $116 million
  • Completion: TBD
  • Developer: Grand Action 2.0 

Grand Action 2.0 is in the process of developing a 12,000-capacity amphitheater on an 11.6-acre site near downtown Grand Rapids at 201 Market Ave. The purchase agreement between Grand Action 2.0, the city of Grand Rapids, Kent County and the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority was extended over the summer to push the property sale closing deadline to Dec. 31, 2022.

Officials expect the amphitheater to draw interest from developers to build out a broader 31-acre riverfront concept that includes mixed-use development, new riverfront trails and mixed-income housing ranging from 1,200 to 1,700 units.

 

880 First Street redevelopment

  • Location: Muskegon
  • Architect: Integrated Architecture LLC
  • Construction manager: Erhardt Construction Co.
  • Cost: $28.7 million
  • Completion: 2024
  • Developer: 880 First Street LLC 

A Muskegon-based developer group plans a mixed-use project with 57 market-rate apartment units on city-owned property at 880 First Street in Muskegon. The 880 First Street LLC development team includes local attorney Brianna Scott and developer Joel Ferguson of Ferguson Development Group. The project is the first major downtown Muskegon project led by minority developers. 

The developers want to get all of the approvals finalized for the project in the next couple of months with construction targeted to start in 2023, Eric Helzer, principal of Advanced Redevelopment Solutions, the owner representative for the project, told MiBiz.

“Due to setbacks and material shortages we’re looking at 24 months of construction,” Helzer said. “I know it looks like we might have been working on this for a long time, but unfortunately in today’s economic environment, this is what it takes. We’re a lot closer than we’ve ever been.”

Development plans call for 57 apartment units across two buildings that will cater to renters making 80 percent to 120 percent of the area median income. The team plans to redevelop an existing one-story building on site into a 24-hour gym with spaces for personal trainers to rent. Plans for an existing five-story building on the site call for it to be redeveloped into apartments and the addition of a sixth story for additional units, Helzer said. As well, the team expects to construct a third infill building that will have apartment units and a rooftop communal space with an outdoor lounge area. 

The developers applied for a $5 million Revitalization and Placemaking grant and received a $3 million grant from the state’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. The team also is working to secure additional funds for the project to offset rising construction costs, Helzer added.

The project will incorporate a community event space that will be available to rent for conferences, meetings and private parties. Tenants will be able to use the space when it isn’t rented out, Helzer said.