GRAND RAPIDS, MI — After a slowdown this spring, Wheeler Development Group is now moving “full speed ahead” with City Tower, a 24-story building planned for downtown Grand Rapids that was announced in January prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
John Wheeler, the group’s CEO, said his firm is finalizing the building’s design, having conversations with prospective tenants and working on the structure of the deal. If the firm determines it can make the project a reality, a groundbreaking date and tenants could be announced this winter.
“From our standpoint, we’re going full speed ahead,” Wheeler said, later adding that the coronavirus pandemic has not been a “deal killer.”
“We’re hoping this is our next big project in the urban core.”
City Tower is planned for a small, city-owned parking lot across the street from Van Andel Arena at 22 Ottawa Ave. NW. Tentative plans for the building to include a five-floor parking garage, three floors of office space, 118 apartments and 19 condos.
At 280 feet, it would be the fourth tallest building in Grand Rapids, and the highest structure built in the city in more than a decade. Construction is expected to cost about $55 million, Wheeler said.
The project is being undertaken in partnership with the city of Grand Rapids. The city owns the parking lot where City Tower would be built, and it has agreed to sell the property to Wheeler Development Group if the firm and the city successfully negotiate a development agreement.
While the coronavirus pandemic slowed planning for City Tower, Wheeler said the project is now “on our front burner.” Initial plans submitted to the city in January said construction could start this fall, but that date has been pushed back.
“It’s just eliminating the unknown from the lending community and from the tenancy spaces,” Wheeler said, referring to the challenges caused by the pandemic. “There’s a lot of companies still that are bullish on Grand Rapids. This might actually even open opportunities for some companies to downsize and to look at new construction.”
Wheeler Development Group is behind several recent large projects in downtown Grand Rapids. They include Hyatt Place hotel at 140 Ottawa Ave NW, the Warner Building at 150 Ottawa Ave. NW, and Arena Place, the $45 million retail, office and apartment building that opened at 55 Ottawa Ave SW in 2016. The firm is based in Grand Rapids.
Wheeler Development Group’s work on City Tower was publicly announced in January, when the Grand Rapids City Commission approved a one-year option agreement with the firm. The agreement, which can be extended for a second year, gives Wheeler Development Group time to conduct due diligence, line up financing, recruit tenants and negotiate a development agreement with the city.
At the end of the option agreement, if Wheeler Development Group decides to move forward with the project, it would purchase from the city the parking lot where City Tower would be built.
“The purchase won’t happen until everything is pretty much said and done and we’re ready to break ground,” said Ryan Wheeler, the firm’s president.
The city began its push to develop the small wedge-shaped parking lot at 22 Ottawa Ave. NW in October 2019, when it invited firms to submit proposals detailing how they would transform the site. Wheeler Development Group’s plans beat out proposals from three other firms.
“We still believe this is a great site and holds a lot of potential,” said Jono Klooster, the acting assistant economic development director for the city of Grand Rapids.
In January, when the city commission chose to partner with Wheeler Development Group on the project, city officials praised Wheeler’s vision for the site. The city wants to create more market rate and affordable housing downtown, and create a more vibrant office and retail sector. City Tower, officials said, would help accomplish those goals.
City officials also like the building’s height.
With relatively little vacant land left downtown, city officials say future construction must reach further into the sky to maximize on available space and create room for the apartments and condominiums needed to grow the city’s downtown population.
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