Grand Action 2.0 has released its vision for 31 acres along the east bank of the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids.
“It’s big. I mean it is big. It’s a wow!”
David Frey is Grand Action vice chair. He’s one of the visionaries behind downtown Grand Rapids quality of life projects like Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place Convention Center and the Downtown Market. But the 31-acre riverfront project stretching from Fulton Street along the Market Avenue corridor to Wealthy Street featuring a 12,000-seat amphitheater, an urban housing mix with retail, greenspace and parks, pedestrian walkways and bridges spanning the Grand River bringing the east and west sides together is potentially the city’s largest undertaking.
“But it is a dynamic project that will forever change the city and make us even more competitive in the market that we serve.”
The project will also feature and adventure park with ziplines and kayak pit-stops which ties in with the Grand Rapids Whitewater project making the Grand River the city’s front door.
While the cost is yet to be determined, Frey tells us the launch is now. The city and all parties involved are committed to an $11 million project that begins next month with the Market Avenue sewer line replacement, street widening, new lighting and city scaping.
Frey explains the project keeps Grand Rapids competitive retaining and attracting talent now and in the future. “And momentum is a very precious commodity and this is the next big step that maintains the momentum of the future of Grand Rapids.”
Projects on the horizon; and open-air soccer stadium and aquarium.