Grand Rapids venues ask for piece of increased hotel tax

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A group of smaller venues in Grand Rapids want a cut of the increased county hotel tax aimed to fund the amphitheater and proposed soccer stadium.

The Kent County Board of Commissioners recently raised the hotel/motel excise tax rate from 5% to 8% to fund those projects after county voters approved the August ballot proposal. At a recent meeting last month, owners of the Four Star Theater, The Intersection and The Pyramid Scheme urged commissioners to set some of that money aside for other projects in the community.

The Four Star Theater has been nestled in the Burton Heights neighborhood for nearly the last century.

“It was a staple in the community, built in a working class neighborhood,” said Marcus Ringnalda, who bought the building in 2017.

Ringnalda has been fighting to bring it back to its old glory.

“A lot of people had the same thought I did: This place just has to come back,” Ringnalda said.

It was originally a movie theater before it became a concert hall in the 1970s. It brought in some recognizable artists, including Joan Jett, Hall & Oates and Eddie Money.

Four Star Theater became a circus-themed nightclub in the 1990s. It was later a youth center before it became vacant in 2004.

Ringnalda was first introduced to the building in 2014. He’s a builder by trade, and an architect connected him with a pastor who wanted to make the theater a church. That effort was ultimately unsuccessful, so Ringnalda bought the building. He had a vision to turn it into a cultural arts center once again.

“Music is calling us loud and clear,” he said. “There’s a huge need for mid-sized venues like this for independent musicians.”

The renovations will cost up to $5 million and are being done in three phases. The first phase repaired a leaky roof, fixed the toilets and turned on light safety systems. Phase two, which installed new heating and cooling equipment and replaced the roof, is nearly complete. Kent County provided funding to install a marquee sign outside, which will be done at a later date.

The theater is already able to host up to 10 events a month thanks to the work already done. A punk show is scheduled for Friday night while the theater hosted a video game competition Wednesday. The theater will also be able to host nearly 1,000 people.

“Some of the benefit of being open in this first phase is we’re listening to what’s gonna work here,” he said. “Our mission is to create a community asset that will be here long into the future.”

The final phase of the project would cost up to $4 million, Ringnalda said. They would replace the loading dock with a handicap-accessible ramp to new bathrooms downstairs. They would also extend the building outward to create a green room to entice artists to perform. The upgrades would also include new equipment and masonry restoration on the outside of the building.

Recently, as the county board approved increasing the hotel tax to fund the amphitheater and proposed soccer stadium, Ringnalda and other venue owners asked the board for a slice of that revenue. The higher tax is expected to generate $24 million in its first year and Ringnalda said they want 5% of that set aside.

“One thing I’ve learned in five years is just the equitable opportunity that arts and culture offers,” he said. “That is severely lacking here on the south side of Grand Rapids. There’s historically been not a lot of attention and investment that happens here.”

Ringnalda said the venue has gotten some support from the city’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program and the county’s ARPA process, but that’s only accounted for 12% of what he needs. His goal has been for one-third of the project to come from public sources.

During the meeting, county board chair Stan Stek said the county needs to figure out whether state law allows revenue from the tax to be used for smaller, private revenues like Four Star Theater. He said a decision likely won’t be made until next year. Stek and County Administrator Al Vanderberg were unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.

Ringnalda said if the theater gets the care it needs, he anticipates it could become a cornerstone in the neighborhood once again. He said it could help grow a thriving arts and culture scene with affordable tickets between $10 and $30.

“We can draw visitors in from out of town,” he said. “We can fill a missing piece of the music and entertainment scene the big venues simply aren’t equipped to handle.”

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