‘Tremendously exciting’: Ground broken on Grand Rapids amphitheater

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Project and community leaders gathered Tuesday for the groundbreaking of the Acrisure Amphitheater in Grand Rapids.

The ceremony celebrated the start of construction of the amphitheater, located at a site along the Grand River on Market Avenue near US-131. Demolition on former city facilities at the site started earlier this month.

Construction on the 12,000-seat amphitheater, developed by Grand Action 2.0, is expected to take about two years. Over that time period, around 700 construction workers will be employed, Pioneer Construction President & CEO Tim Schowalter said during the ceremony.

He said $6 million of the construction budget will go to local minority-owned, woman-owned or micro locally-owned businesses in the area. The project, which includes what Schowalter described as an “iconic” canopy structure, will use 3,130 tons of structural steel. For comparison, Schowalter said the Eiffel Tower has around 7,000 tons of steel.

It will also use 9,720 cubic yards parts of concrete, 436 tons of reinforcing steel in the concrete and 150,000 cubic yards of sand, or about 3,750 truck trains worth of sand.

Project leaders also released new renderings of the project Tuesday.

The project will help draw more people to the city, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss told News 8 after the groundbreaking ceremony.

“This will be another important asset that will draw people to our city. It’ll fill in a gap in the summer when quite frankly, a lot of performers don’t want to perform inside,” she said. “With the work that’s going to happen along the river’s edge and the connection of the trails — and there’ll be green space — it’s going to add this incredible public space in the heart of our downtown.”

She said it’s exciting to see the site get redeveloped after talking about it for so long, a sentiment Grand Action 2.0 co-chair Dick DeVos echoed.

“It’s tremendously exciting,” the former Amway CEO told News 8. “It’s exciting for me, having been involved in this project and the idea for so many years. But when an idea translates into reality, that’s a special moment. … Generations to come are going to enjoy very, very special experiences right here on this site.”

He said the project is “a huge step forward” not just for Grand Rapids, but also for all of West Michigan. But he added that no matter how big the city gets, he doesn’t want the city “to lose the special things that make Grand Rapids what it is today, that makes West Michigan what it is.”

“Our culture is what’s truly special, not our size. It’s our culture of community and we can never lose that,” he said. “I’m determined to never let us lose it.”

DeVos and his co-chair, Carol Van Andel, encouraged people to vote for the Kent County lodging tax proposal that will be on the ballot in August. If approved, the county’s hotel tax — paid by those visiting the area — would be raised from 5% to 8%. That could be used for projects like the amphitheater, soccer stadium and proposed aquarium.

“Donors across the community have … stepped up to give freely to make this a reality,” DeVos told News 8. “What is going to need to happen is for the entire community in August, to join with us to make this project a reality and to move things forward, to finalize the funding that will make this project real.”

Those donors include name sponsor Acrisure , an insurance broker and financial technology company, which is providing $30 million to support the project.

“As a company we always talk about doing big bold things and being impactful,” Acrisure Chairman and CEO Greg Williams told News 8. “This project lines up perfectly with the things that we want to do and really do that … with the community that’s been so supportive of us. That’s something that we’re excited about doing.”

Also Tuesday, the Grand Rapids City Commission approved brownfield plans for housing projects set to go alongside the amphitheater and the soccer stadium.

“The intent is once the amphitheater is built to add a private development that will have housing units,” Bliss told News 8. “My hope is that we see hundreds and hundreds of housing units, additional commercial space added once the amphitheater is done.”

According to planning documents filed with the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Acrisure Amphitheater is set to be near a 21-story mixed-used building that would include 475 apartments. The building would be located south of the amphitheater. A six-floor parking ramp, which would add 917 parking spaces to the downtown area, is also planned for the area, plus a retail space on the ground floor.

The 8,500-seat soccer stadium , planned for a 7.5-acre site on the city’s West Side located along US-131 near the YMCA, is also set to have a nearby high-rise. The proposed 18-story Stadium District Tower would have 260 apartment units in the top nine floors, plus retail and office space. Plans also include a 350-space parking structure.

Jono Klooster, the city’s acting economic development director said right now, the plan is for either a guarantee of 150 affordable housing units between those two projects or that the developer will make an annual contribution to the city’s affordable housing fund.

“The additional incentives that are available via the transformational brownfield program can be increased if there’s an affordable housing agreement related to the development,” he said. “So there’s a cost-benefit analysis here and there’s a benefit to the city and the community to provide affordable housing through these projects and there’s also additional incentive available to those private developers if they enter into an agreement with the city.”

The two projects come as the city faces a housing crisis , faced with the need to add 14,000 housing units by 2027 , according to a 2022 housing needs assessment from Housing Next.

Together, plans call for an addition of 1,267 parking spaces and 735 apartments in the downtown area.

“It’s just an exciting day for our city,” Bliss said.

— News 8’s Meghan Bunchman contributed to this report.

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