Grand Valley will benefit from a December 14 announcement that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is supporting 11 brownfield redevelopment projects in five Michigan cities.
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm said that the projects will generate over $406 million in new investment and create and retain 1,401 jobs. Grand Valley has formed a limited liability corporation, 38 Front Redevelopment LLC, which will redevelop and own a new building at 38 Front Street SW., Grand Rapids.
The partnership plans to utilize a state brownfield credit valued at $8 million to demolish a largely vacant building and construct a new home for the university’s Seidman College of Business and Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center will bring various business development and training resources under one roof to meet West Michigan’s executive, corporate, and educational certification needs. The project will also include three stories of dedicated space and will house GVSU’s business school. The project will generate $51 million in new private investment and create 165 jobs.The project was endorsed by the Grand Rapids City Commission after review by the local brownfield redevelopment committee.
“The brownfield redevelopment projects announced today are the latest examples of Michigan’s efforts to repurpose blighted, contaminated or functionally obsolete properties across the state,” Granholm said. “These incentives will spur redevelopment of properties that have often been underutilized for years, transforming our urban centers and fueling growth in communities across the state. At the same time, these incentives help companies to create new job opportunities as they expand in Michigan.”
Michigan brownfield programs provide incentives to invest in property that has been used for industrial, commercial or residential purposes and to keep that property in productive use or return it to productive use. Brownfield incentives can be used for functionally obsolete, blighted or contaminated property.
“On behalf of the university’s Board of Trustees, I want to thank the MEDC for its confidence in our project, which will create and sustain jobs in Grand Rapids and throughout Michigan for decades to come,” said President Thomas J. Haas.
Haas said demolition of the current structure will likely occur next spring, with construction of the new L. William Seidman Center scheduled for completion in 2013.
