fbpx

MiBiz is now Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. Visit our new site at crainsgrandrapids.com

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers behind the $150 million Factory Yards redevelopment south of downtown Grand Rapids plan to seek rarely used state tax incentives to offset substantial costs of the project.

HOLLAND — Lakewood Construction Co. plans to learn from a recently acquired glazing business to expand its project scope and its footprint into new geographies. 

MARSHALL — Rooms above the historic Schuler’s Restaurant in downtown Marshall that served as storage space for the past 50 years have been converted to lodging once again.


GRAND RAPIDS — When Jean Stoffer stepped into a beautiful but neglected 1931 Colonial on Woodward Lane in Grand Rapids two years ago, her mouth dropped open and she knew she would buy it — and flip it.

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers across West Michigan are seizing a prime opportunity to turn the region’s abundance of golf courses into badly needed housing.

DOWAGIAC — Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of an Indiana commercial real estate firm.

Published in Small Business


GRAND RAPIDS — A global insurance consultancy is following in the footsteps of many other businesses post-pandemic and “right-sizing” its office footprint to reflect the new hybrid reality of work.

GRAND RAPIDS — A Grand Rapids architect plans to relocate his firm to a corridor near his childhood home on the city’s northwest side that he sees as the next bustling district in the city.

HOLLAND — A May ballot initiative in which city voters will determine a potential land swap will make or break decades-long efforts to redevelop industrial waterfront property near downtown Holland.


GRAND RAPIDS — As West Michigan tackles an ambitious plan to make itself the leading tech hub in the Midwest, developers question whether they can build enough housing in the booming region to accommodate a potential influx of workers.

GRAND RAPIDS — The city of Grand Rapids approved a nonprofit developer’s rezoning request for a retooled affordable housing project at the site of a former funeral home in the West Grand neighborhood.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have approved a $2.2 million contract with the architect designing a new public services facility, which will help to facilitate the development of a downtown amphitheater.



KALAMAZOO — The Michigan Strategic Fund board has approved gap and brownfield funding for a highly anticipated, years-long effort to redevelop a vacant property near downtown Kalamazoo into housing and a child care facility.

Developers next month will seek final rezoning approval for a revised plan to convert a nearly 100-year-old golf course north of Grand Rapids into more than 500 units of housing after neighbors expressed near-unanimous opposition to the prior site plan.

PLAINFIELD TWP. — Developers have introduced plans for a mixed-use housing project in northwest Plainfield Township that local officials say is a “different way of thinking, … unique” and aligned with broader goals around growing housing density.


GAINES TWP. — Robert Grooters Development Co. plans to break ground in April on a nearly 200,000-square-foot speculative industrial facility just south of Kentwood in Gaines Township.

GRAND RAPIDS — State and local housing leaders are beginning to collaborate on ways to accomplish goals established in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Statewide Housing Plan.

GRAND RAPIDS — A West Michigan nonprofit that provides free temporary housing for families of children receiving medical care plans to renovate and expand its Grand Rapids campus after experiencing pandemic-related delays.

Published in Nonprofits

GRAND RAPIDS — DeVries Jewelers plans to tear down the abandoned Lannings’ restaurant on Grand Rapids’ west side to make way for a new storefront for the fourth-generation, family-owned jewelry retailer. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The developer behind a Grand Rapids workforce housing project that recently broke ground seeks to replace 10 ground-floor apartments with a daycare center to help address the widespread shortage of child care options.

GRAND RAPIDS — City officials have released a plan for spending $8.5 million in federal funding primarily on repairing or building hundreds of affordable housing units and creating homeownership opportunities.


GRAND RAPIDS — A metro Detroit investor has acquired a 320-unit luxury apartment community in West Michigan less than a year after it was finished.

GRAND RAPIDS — Less than a decade ago, the Creston Neighborhood was positioned to be “that next hot spot” in the city of Grand Rapids. A developer planned two mixed-use housing projects in the neighborhood’s business district, spurring other businesses to plan for expansion or relocating to the neighborhood.

GRAND RAPIDS — Developers are making progress on the design and overall vision for a Grand Rapids riverfront amphitheater, which they call “the largest proposed redevelopment of a riverfront in the nation at this point.”


A portfolio of West Michigan businesses has tapped a longtime statewide policy advocate to help lead its strategy to bring more people of color into construction and related sectors.

The DeVos family last month sold the Peninsular Club building in downtown Grand Rapids after previously making extensive renovations to the nearly 110-year-old building.

GRAND RAPIDS — When the Great Recession roiled Michigan in 2008, Takidia Jenkins-Smith started a garden at her home in southeast Grand Rapids to stretch her grocery budget. She was 24 years old at the time with three young sons to feed, so she kept at it, eventually growing food for friends and extended family.

Published in Food/Agribusiness

GRAND RAPIDS — A DeVos-owned building with a “long, storied history” in downtown Grand Rapids recently sold for nearly $6.4 million, and is set to once again house a private social club.

GRAND RAPIDS — Nonprofit disability service provider Hope Network is set to break ground this spring on a $40 million affordable housing project after overcoming pandemic- and financing-related delays.

PARK TWP. — The owners of the Ottawa Beach General Store, a community staple along Lake Macatawa near Holland State Park, plan to rebuild the facility and maintain its vintage design in time for the 2024 season.

Page 1 of 27