Development in Grand Rapids
Named America’s #1 City on the Rise in 2025 by LinkedIn, Grand Rapids and its surrounding region have built one of the most successful economies in the U.S. over the past decade – and it’s fueled an unprecedented surge in capital expenditures.
Grand Rapids saw a record-breaking $949.3 million in construction value in 2025, and that doesn’t include a massive $800 million project – Fulton & Market Towers – that is now in the design and development phase.
Here are just a few examples of recent investments:
Developments for the 12,000 seat riverfront Acrisure Amphitheater, to be completed in 2026.
Photo by Shafi Subhan, Courtesy of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.
Downtown Amphitheater
The $184 million Acrisure Amphitheater is set to open in downtown GR in May 2026. The 12,000+-seat outdoor performance venue on the banks of the Grand River offers concourse, terrace and lawn seating, with three-quarters of the seats covered by an innovative canopy that provides both shelter from the elements and an unobstructed view of the stage from any vantage point.
The restoration of the city’s namesake rapids is a key part of the River Restoration project.
Photo by Courtesy of Grand Rapids WhiteWater
Grand River Restoration
Planning continues on an ambitious project to revitalize the Grand River that runs through downtown and transform the way people engage with it. Long a magnet for fishing enthusiasts, the river will be “redesigned” to offer additional recreation opportunities and act as a catalyst for further development. The city’s namesake rapids, long absent from the river, will be restored with the removal of downtown dams.
Grand River Greenway
The Grand River Greenway is a growing network of public parks, trails and natural areas linking West Michigan communities to the Grand River. When finished, the Greenway will travel straight through Grand Rapids on its 85-mile route from Lowell to Lake Michigan. The project will also improve access to the river by adding more places where people can safely interact with the river through universal fishing docks, kayak launches and more. In 2026, Canal Park and the Grand Rapids Public Museum will both unveil improvements to the riverfront corridor in downtown GR, while Johnson Park, 10 minutes from downtown, will debut a new adaptive natural-surface trail. More than $150 million is being invested in the Greenway over the next two years.
Construction, anticipated to take two years, will provide the Grand Rapids Public Museum with a refreshed appearance.
Photo by Shafi Subhan, Courtesy of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc.
Grand Rapids Public Museum
The Grand Rapids Public Museum is transforming its outdoor space into a park-like environment with classrooms, artifact displays, hands-on learning stations, seating and food service. It is also detaching the pavilion housing its 1928 Spillman carousel from the main building to allow for an accessible riverfront trail. In addition, several of the Museum’s core exhibition spaces are being refreshed and reimagined. The $50 million project began in fall 2023 and the first phase of enhancements is expected to be complete in spring 2026.
Lyon Square includes pedestrian paths, greenery, seating, colorful lighting and a spacious platform overlooking the river.
Photo by Nick Irwin for Experience GR.
The upcoming stadium will feature seating for 8,500, designed for multi-sport and multi-use events.
Photo by Courtesy of Grand Action 2.0
Amway Stadium
Crews broke ground in May 2025 on the $175 million Amway Stadium, which will host the new MLS Next Pro League soccer team Athletic Club Grand Rapids when it opens in spring 2027. With seating for 8,500 and room to grow, the multi-use, multi-sport venue will be flanked by an open plaza and space for pre-game gathering and easy entrance flow. The project is just steps from bustling downtown neighborhoods and is expected to be a catalyst for even more development.
Hotels
Downtown Grand Rapids has doubled its hotel count to 14 since 2016, bringing the total number of city-center guest rooms to more than 2,500. Initial designs for the aforementioned Fulton & Market Towers project include a luxury boutique hotel on the downtown riverfront. Hotel development continues apace in other areas of the city, with the opening of such properties as Ada’s namesake Ada Hotel and Rockford’s Hotel Rose.
John Ball Zoo
Already ranked in the top 25% of all American zoos, John Ball Zoo has embarked on an ambitious 10-year plan to vault it into the ranks of the country’s very best. The largest indoor habitat in the U.S., the addition of giraffes and sea lions, a 30-foot waterfall and a rooftop café are just some of the transformative new projects the Zoo will undertake through 2035. In 2026, the Zoo will introduce an expanded North American River Otter exhibit featuring an underwater viewing area and unique interactive element. The Zoo is also pushing forward with plans to build a large-scale aquarium on a waterfront site in Kent County, envisioning a 2031 opening.
Meijer Sports Complex
Opened in 2014 in Rockford, 15 minutes from downtown GR, the Meijer Sports Complex hosts a variety of youth and adult amateur baseball and softball tournaments. It will show off more than $13.5 million of improvements when it opens for the 2026 season, including two new grass softball fields, a turf championship softball field, 20 pickleball courts, new concessions and restaurants, and expanding parking. The enhancements will allow the Complex to accommodate an additional 200 teams annually.
Corewell Health
The area’s largest employer, formerly known as Spectrum Health, operates a full-service hospital and a children’s hospital in downtown GR. It has consolidated a portion of its workforce in a new $110 million Center for Transformation and Innovation in downtown’s Monroe North neighborhood. Other recently completed or in-progress projects include a 125-unit mixed-use housing complex for resident physicians in Monroe North, a $151 million, 12-story Care Center in downtown GR’s Medical Mile neighborhood, and an $80 million service center in Wyoming.
Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital
Downtown’s Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, the nation’s most comprehensive rehabilitation provider, is partnering with Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital to build Michigan’s first dedicated children’s rehabilitation hospital. The $60 million Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital is being built across the street from Mary Free Bed, with a pedestrian walkway between them. It is expected to open in 2026.
GVSU continues to grow with plans to devlop the "Blue Dot Lab."
Photo by Experience GR
Grand Valley State University
The downtown GR campus of this 22,000-student school continues to expand, with plans announced for a $150 million repurposing of its riverside Eberhard Center into the “Blue Dot Lab,” housing computer science, data science and transdisciplinary degrees in business, computing and the humanities. This will help fulfill the city’s vision to create 20,000 new tech jobs over the next decade and become a major tech hub in the Midwest.
Downtown Businesses
Downtown GR has welcomed many new corporate headquarters, educational facilities and multi-use complexes in the past five years – Acrisure, Perrigo, MSU Grand Rapids Innovation Park the Grand Valley State University Center for Interprofessional Health, the West Michigan Construction Institute and Studio Park, just to name a few.
A host of new restaurants and shops opened downtown in 2025, including Allora, an upscale destination for fresh coastal Italian cuisine; Big Mini Putt Club, an indoor mini golf course and bar; Garden District, a New Orleans-inspired Cajun/Creole restaurant; Rebel Nell, a graffiti-themed jewelry store; and SILVA, a unique “dinnertainment” complex.
The new additions give visitors 250+ places to dine and shop within a 10-minute walk of downtown hotels.
Downtown Residential
The demand for downtown housing has skyrocketed as new and longtime residents want to be close to big-city amenities. The 22-story residential tower at the Studio Park entertainment complex, opened in summer 2024, is one of many projects looking to fill the need. Another is Factory Yards, a $150 million, 15-acre mixed use development a 10-minute walk from downtown’s Founders Brewing Co. and the new Acrisure Amphitheater. It’s set to break ground in 2026.
Already underway is Michigan’s first redevelopment of an office building into residential space, with several floors of the Fifth Third Bank building being converted to house 140 apartments. And the Fulton & Market Towers development is projected to include the construction of more than 600 high-end housing units.
Residential construction is also booming outside downtown, as the National Association of Realtors named Grand Rapids/Kent County a Top 10 Housing Spot for 2025, and city officials estimate that an additional 35,000 housing units will be needed by 2027.
The Gerald R. Ford International Airport concourse and terminal continue to see updates completed.
Photo by Peter McCullough Photo for Gerald R. Ford International Airport
Gerald R. Ford International Airport
In summer 2023, the Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) unveiled phase 1 of its Concourse A expansion project, which increased the number of gates from eight to 14, enlarged gate space areas to accommodate larger size aircraft, and added new concession and retail concepts.
This expansion is part of the airport’s ELEVATE Program, which is designating more than $600 million in infrastructure improvements to enhance the guest experience and position GRR for future growth. Additional improvements set to begin or already underway include a second-level executive lounge, a new federal inspection station to enable nonstop international passenger flights, the relocation of the current air traffic control tower, a consolidated rental car facility with an enclosed walkway from the terminal and a new checked bagged inspection system that will streamline the post-ticket counter journey for baggage.
These enhancements will further distinguish an airport already renowned for its service – Airports Council International’s Service Quality Awards recognized GRR in 2024 as North America’s Best Airport of 2-5 Million Passengers, the Airport with the Most Dedicated Staff, the Easiest Airport Journey, the Most Enjoyable Airport and the Cleanest Airport.
