As part of the city’s long term goal of reimagining the riverfront in downtown Grand Rapids and restoring the rapids to the Grand River, city officials announced the purchase of nearly 4 acres of land Monday that will be home to a future downtown riverfront park.
Deriving its name from the rapids in the river, the city of Grand Rapids says that for now, the land will serve as one of many access points for construction crews to access the river and begin the removal of dams that were placed there decades ago.
“As we think about restoration of those rapids there is going to be a lot of heavy equipment needed to get into the river and take out the old dams and restore those rapids and so there were a number of sites up and down the river corridor that are necessary for access for that type of work," Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation director David Marquardt said.
"This is one of those sites the city just completed acquisition on and it’s important from that aspect, from a river restoration aspect, but more importantly long term it’s that future recreational value that we are adding to the downtown city of Grand Rapids.”
The $45 million dollar project is set to begin in 2019, with the hope of adding a number of new parks, bike trails and recreational usage of the river.
Marquardt says the overall goal is to completely change the way the Grand River is viewed and accessed in downtown Grand Rapids.
Officials hope to have the project completed by 2025.