GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Plans for a site just down the road from the Acrisure Amphitheater could bring another new amphitheater to the city, albeit a much smaller one.
Nonprofit housing organization Dwelling Place and developer P.S. Equities are working to bring a new affordable housing project to the sites at 447 and 449 Market Ave., located along the Grand River by Wealthy Street.
It’s a development P.S. Equities — which owns one of the sites, while the city owns the other — has been trying to work on since around 2015, according to Jacob Horner, chief real estate development officer at Dwelling Place. It ended up connecting with Dwelling Place to serve as its local partner.
Affordable housing project could be built near GR amphitheater
“It was just a really good, good partnership. Both organizations are of the same mind in terms of … what the community needs,” Horner said. “We’re excited to work with them.”
Current plants for the project include around 90 apartments, a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. They will be built atop a two-story parking structure with around 100 parking spaces. Project leaders are also hoping to include an outdoor space with an amphitheater for performances and space for food trucks.
“We want to activate this space, we think it’s a critical node for the city,” said Jacob Horner, chief real estate development officer at Dwelling Place.
He noted the city is hoping to connect the Oxford Trail with the river walk, which will continue down to the Acrisure Amphitheater, and the development his team is working on will serve as a transition point going across Wealthy Street.
Renderings from planning documents show the project Dwelling Place and P.S. Equities are working to bring to the corner of Wealthy Street and Market Avenue. (Courtesy)
“We’re thinking there’s gone be a lot of foot traffic going back and forth. And so we want to create an outdoor amenity where people walking by can come and just sit for a moment and see what’s going on and maybe listen to our performance,” he said. “If it’s a busy weekend and there’s a lot of events going on, we’ll have the food trucks out, they’ll be able to come by and get a bite to eat.”
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The current plan has shifted, as it originally included a surface lot alongside the building.
“We did get some pushback from the Planning Commission on that and some members of the community,” Horner explained. “So we looked at our design and we did our best to remove that. It does make the development more expensive, it’s going to make it a little bit more difficult for us to pull it off, but it’s going to be a better project if we can make a go of it. So we’re excited and think we’ll be successful.”
On Sept. 11, they’ll be bringing plans for the outdoor space before the city’s planning commission. If the planning commission approves the request for a special land use, the team will start applying for tax credits through MSHDA. The process is highly competitive, Horner noted; should it go through, the team hopes to start construction next fall.
The team is hosting a community engagement event on Thursday, Sept. 4 from 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the development site. The open-house event will offer information on the project, and will be an opportunity for community members to offer input or ask questions.
“We hope that folks from the community will be able to join us,” Horner said.
