Mark Sanchez: It was called a huge milestone the other day. And this is a ceremonial thing with every large construction project, especially a big public project like this. You do your last beam ceremony and basically, it's also known as topping off and basically your last couple of iron beams were put into place that creates that skeleton. And boy, we're all seeing it go up here in the last few months as you're coming into downtown or as you're driving along U.S.-131. It's rising. It's happening. This is a 60,000 square foot canopy that mostly is what you're seeing. And last week was the last beam ceremony. So, this project is coming along. It's the $184 million, 12,000-person outdoor venue. It's on budget, on schedule to be completed by May 2026. And again, this was a big milestone in this construction project going on there on the south side of downtown. And you know, it fits into the broader scheme of things of what's happening in downtown. You've got the amphitheater, the Acrisure Amphitheater. You're going to have Amway Stadium going up there on Lake Michigan Drive along the freeway. And we had an event a couple of weeks ago, our Newsmaker event, where the folks at Grand Action mentioned keep an eye on that property. You're going to start seeing some activity there pretty soon with the soccer stadium. It's going to start with the Big Boy demolition. And two or three weeks ago, you saw some major equipment moved onto the site and they fenced off the Big Boy. So, folks can't park in that lot anymore. So that project's going to be moving. And then you've got the Three Tower project along the river there as well. That’s a big project, those three developments. And we’ll see it go forward. There’s still some process to go through and especially the brown field (redevelopment) and other things, but its progressing and the folks behind it have, and I’ve said this many times, they have a track record of getting things done. So, this event last week for the Acrisure Amphitheater, the topping off ceremony that kind of marked the progress in that project as one of three that's going to reshape the riverfront in that part of downtown.
Patrick Center: There is the riverfront development itself along the East bank of the river. We're going to begin seeing the footpaths coming through the green space development, an area for kayaking. So, we're going to see this development also take shape as the amphitheater is beginning to wrap up.
Mark Sanchez: Yeah, that's taking shape. And remember, you've got the Grand Rapids Whitewater project coming that you're going to have some of those improved walkways along the river. You're going to have those places where you can put in for canoes or kayaking along the river. It really going to make that riverfront more accessible, more usable for recreation. And, you know, I think about the, obviously the famed is the San Antonio Riverfront Walkway. You've got the Riverfront Walkway in Detroit now. That's a big deal. And there's something about people wanting to congregate along the water for recreation or just gathering for events or just going out and taking a stroll. So that's all part of this progress and these developments going on here in downtown.
Patrick Center: We're talking with Crain's Grand Rapids Business staff writer, Mark Sanchez. There is a pilot program about a year in now where there's some data points that can be used to see how well it is working. And this pilot is aimed at aiding chronically homeless women. I know Degagé is taking the lead on this.
Mark Sanchez: It's a partnership between Degagé Ministries and Trinity Health Grand Rapids. And their goal is just to cut down on the emergency room visits. The EMS calls for women who are chronically homeless and have some behavioral health or perhaps substance abuse issues. And it started a little more than a year ago in the former Hope Lodge building across from Trinity Grand Rapids over on Jefferson Avenue. And last week, the folks behind it kind of offered an update. And there have been 25 women participating in the pilot program. They live at what's now called Heartside Landings over there on Jefferson Avenue. And here's some of success, you know, sometimes you see these pilots and these programs start, but you never really then learn down the line how well it's doing or not doing. Well, this one's doing pretty darn well. ER visits among those participants declined 65%. One resident who had 66 ER visits in 2023 had zero in 2024. EMS calls for this small population declined 87% from 2023 to 2024. And there's also some data that shows that, you know, some of these participants, they're now ready to live independently or move to a nursing home because they have other physical issues. It's a program that's been working. Again, Degagé Ministries, Trinity Health Grand Rapids, Network 180 here in town has been offering onsite mental health support. Catherine's Health Center has been providing medical care. And it's a program that's been funded largely through philanthropy. The DeVos Family Foundation provided that lead gift. You have the Jandernoa Foundation, the Frey Foundation, and then some private donors have stepped up to help provide funding and support this effort. And again, it's a pilot that's been working. So, the hope is now is to maybe replicate it to another cohort. Maybe some other organizations in town would like to replicate the model for the population they work with. But it’s just good to see this type of initiative starting out and in the first year, gaining some traction and showing that it's got a lot of promise. It's got a lot of potential to do much more based on the first-year data. It's been pretty effective.
Patrick Center: Proof of performance and duplicate the model. It's a great story. In Muskegon, we're seeing again, great stories when it comes to the economic development along the lakeshore.
Mark Sanchez: This is just a shout out to the folks in Muskegon. They've had a couple of nice economic development wins lately. First, just last week GE Aerospace has a little bit of a presence in Muskegon. It's a $70 million project investing in a Muskegon plant that produces aircraft components. The components are for engines produced by GE Aerospace and a French-based company called Safran Aircraft Engines. And it’s a big deal for Muskegon to get that investment and upgrade and invest in that existing facility. And it's all part of a bigger, much larger $1 billion investment that GE Aerospace is making in its U.S. factories and supply chain to kind of strengthen the manufacturing base and increase innovation. So that was one nice academic development win for Muskegon here of late. The other was a company called Forming Technologies. It's got a plant Muskegon. It's been around about 21 years. It produces heavy gauge, thermoformed products for number of industries and it's going to build a 150,000 square foot facility up in the Muskegon Port City Industrial Park. It's about an $18.8 million project, 91 retained jobs and 70 new jobs and it's going to pay quite well. So again, best to you folks in Muskegon. It's a couple of nice economic development wins we're seeing here in that Lakeshore market.
Patrick Center: Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, staff writer Mark Sanchez, thank you so much.
Mark Sanchez: Thank you, Patrick.