The new Rylee’s Ace Hardware on Michigan Street NE in Grand Rapids is nearly triple the size of its old store. PHOTO: KAREN GENTRY

By Karen Gentry | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS — The challenge to designing the new Rylee’s Ace Hardware was making it look like a multi-use building and conforming to urban zoning.

Retail design expert Mary Witte, owner of R.O.I. Design in Grand Rapids, said it was important for the building to look in scale for the location on the very busy corridor east of downtown. Her firm completed the conceptual design for the new store and worked with Architectural Concepts on the overall design and Pinnacle Construction Group Inc. for the construction.

“The building looks like a compilation of businesses there. We didn’t want to have a big box store,” Witte told MiBiz.

Building materials were used in a decorative way with cut block and siding to resemble a multi-use building. To meet zoning requirements requiring buildings close to the street, the parking and customer entrance are located on the side of the building to the east, convenient and visible for commuters traveling east from downtown.

Rylee’s Ace Hardware owner Lori Terpstra said she wanted the store to stay in the neighborhood where it has been since the 1940s. She said Rylee’s Ace Hardware has been very successful on Michigan Street located near downtown with a high density of homes and serving neighborhoods such as Heritage Hill, Midtown, Easttown and Belknap. She said Rylee’s needed a minimum of two acres and found it in the former Armory site on Michigan Street just east of Fuller.

Rylee’s outgrew its 12,000-square-foot space located a couple blocks west of the new store where the store operated on three levels with tight parking and a fix-it shop and employee parking across the street.

The new 31,000-square-foot store includes 8,000 more items, expanded housewares and fastener departments triple the size of the old ones, and a firearms and fishing areas with a log cabin décor. A larger 2,600-square-foot service center is visible upon entering the store.

Witte said customers have immediately noticed the improved lighting. The store’s interior also includes durable floor finishes and many colors not typically found in other Ace Hardware stores.

Architectural Concepts President Ken Watkins said the new store includes much wider aisles and also incorporates the small engine repair facility.

“Hopefully we’ve created a store that’s far more user friendly than their previous store and one that functions much more efficiently,” Watkins told MiBiz.

He said the main traffic aisles are coated with multi-colored epoxy. The exterior is made of a combination of decorative concrete blocks and metal panels.

“It’s a little more contemporary look and very low maintenance,” Watkins said.
LEED certification will not be sought for the building, although some principles of green design were used, including energy efficient light fixtures and recycled materials.

Besides requiring the building to sit immediately up along the street by the sidewalk, Watkins said the zoning ordinance required a certain percentage of the front wall facing Michigan Street to be glass.

Michael Garrett, president of Pinnacle Construction Group Inc., said block construction on all sides of the building was chosen to last 100 years. The entire roof is a conventional steel and membrane system with all high quality materials.

Garrett described Terpstra as a “very strong retailer,” who runs a good, customer-driven business.

“It was a very nice project to have in the middle of a recession,” said Garrett, noting building a 30,000-square-foot building during these times is a testament to the successful business.

Challenges with the project include building on a very constrained site on a very busy street.

“We used every inch of that site for that building,” Garrett said.

Watkins said the property is deeper than it is wide with relatively significant grade changes.

“We tried to place the building where we could work with those grades,” Watkins said.

Groundwater was discovered on the site and had to be accommodated for an unexpected expense. The storm water collection system needed to be buried underneath the parking lot, Watkins said.

Construction on the new store began in October 2009 with about 50 subcontractors working at the height of construction, according to Garrett.

Company history

Terpstra represents the third generation of the family-owned business. Her grandfather opened for business at 811 Michigan Street in 1946 before building the store at the former location at 1121 Michigan Street.