Second mixed-use building approved for GR Boston Square Together development

Second mixed-use building approved for GR Boston Square Together development

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Planning Commission has approved final site plans for the second building that will be constructed as part of the Boston Square Together development along Kalamazoo Avenue SE on the city’s south side.

When completed, the roughly 7-acre development across 12 adjacent properties will include up to 270 residential housing units and commercial space in the city’s Boston Square neighborhood. Planning commissioners previously approved the first building in the development on Nov. 12 that will contain 45 units across four stories. 

The “F2” building that commissioners approved today is planned to include 5,300 square feet of ground floor retail, topped by two residential stories containing a total of 57 apartment units, and a rooftop community space and open terrace. Onsite parking will be available for residents on a surface lot to be located south of the building, shared with the first building commissioners previously approved. 

Jon Ippel, executive director of Amplify GR, which is developing the project, noted the project’s planned amenities and greenspace, including a neighborhood garen, playground and potentially a public park.

Planning for the entirety of the Boston Square Together project has been a years-long effort between Amplify GR and the surrounding community, including Oakdale Neighbors and the Boston Square Neighborhood Association.

“As part of our community partnership agreement that we considered two years ago, we are also focused on local and minority contracting opportunities as part of the construction process, and retail will be local and minority-owned,” Ippel told city planning commissioners. 

Ippel said Amplify GR is applying in October for project-based vouchers and Low Income Housing Tax Credits through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority in order to make rents affordable in the development.

“Eighty percent of the units will be rent-restricted, and we’re emphasizing that it’s a mixed-income development in nature,” Ippel said. 

If the LIHTC credits are awarded, the goal is to start construction next summer, with an expected 2023 completion of the project, Ippel said.

Project partners include Northbrook, Ill.-based Brinshore Development LLC, Grand Rapids-based Rockford Construction Co. Inc., Chicago-based architecture firm UrbanWorks Ltd., Grand Rapids-based Isaac V. Norris & Associates P.C., Kalamazoo- and Grand Rapids-based landscape architecture firm Viridis Design Group, Grand Rapids-based Integrated Architecture Inc. and Grand Rapids-based engineering firm Nederveld Inc.