GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Grand Rapids City Commission approved an incentives plan Tuesday night for a massive downtown development that would add three new high-rises to the city’s skyline.

Earlier in the day, the commission voted 6-1 to advance the plan, with 3rd Ward Commissioner Kelsey Perdue the only no vote. A final vote at the city commission meeting approved it. The incentives will still require state approval.

WHAT THE DEVELOPMENT WILL LOOK LIKE

Fulmar Property Holdings, LLC, would like to build the $800 million project on a 6.9-acre site at the intersection of Fulton Street and Market Avenue, which includes the former Charley’s Crab site. Fulmar Property Holdings is a DeVos and Van Andel-backed company, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reports.

The project would include a 21-story office tower along US-131, a 43-story residential tower and a 27-story hotel and condo tower. If built, the residential tower would be the tallest in the city.

“We know that this corner, it’s been privately owned and it has sat vacant decades. Charley’s Crab was there, but it was demolished a number of years ago after it fell into disrepair. So when you think about that location, it is wildly underutilized and so I’m excited to see a project of this scale and scope move forward,” Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said after the meeting.

The office tower would be mostly occupied by one tenant and would include eight floors of parking. Construction on that building is expected to start in the fall of 2025, with the goal of completing it in the fall of 2027.

The other two towers would share a second parking structure. They would include around 600 apartments — aimed at those making around 150% of the area median income with rates set between $2,643 and $3,928 — along with 76 condos and 130 hotel rooms. Crews are expected to start construction on both of those buildings in the summer of 2026, with a completion goal of the summer of 2029.

“This project has a lot of benefits to the community,” Bliss said. “It’s bringing in thousands of jobs. It’s bringing in over 700 housing units. We know that we need that. A huge part of the problem in our community right now is supply. Where do we want that kind of high-density development? We want it downtown. It’s consistent with the master plan.”

She added the project would develop the riverfront, including with a public trail and green space.

THE INCENTIVE PACKAGE

Before the city commission Tuesday was the project’s Transformational Brownfield Plan.

“The Transformational Brownfield is a very specific to large scale mixed-used projects in urban cores,” Bliss explained. “It’s a limited incentive at the state level, but it was specifically created to support projects like this.”

Developers are asking a total of around $588 million in incentives from both the state and the city. About $130 million of that would be a brownfield incentive local property tax capture.

Project leaders have proposed contributing $8.5 million to the Grand Rapids affordable housing fund over 20 years. Project organizers say that funding would be enough to support 85 affordable units.

That $8.5 million comes out to about 1.4% of the $588 million in incentives. During a public hearing on the project on Nov. 12, local activist group Together West Michigan said the city should renegotiate that contribution to 20% total, with 10% paid upfront. Michigan Growth Advisors, the economic development subsidiary managing the financial planning of the project, said that would make the project unfeasible.

Bliss called the $8.5 million contribution “significant,” and pointed out that the city would collect income taxes from people living and working in the development.

“So during the time or course of this incentive, we’ll be collecting millions of dollars a year in local income tax,” Bliss said. “That’s how we pay for all of our valuable services: our police, our firefighters, our parks and all the other investments we make around housing.”

COMMISSIONER SOUGHT GREATER PUBLIC BENEFIT

Commissioner Perdue, the lone no vote on the Transformational Brownfield Plan, said she was “disappointed” the incentives were OK’d — though she had expected it. She argued the community as a whole is not getting enough out of the development to justify the incentives plan.

“In exchange for the public financing this project, on extremely beneficial terms, the public is asking for public benefit. I think that is fair,” she said.

She specifically cited the contribution to the affordable housing fund and the schedule under which payments to that fund are expected to be made.

“Right now, the contribution to the affordable housing fund, the amount and the schedule, would allow us to build less than two units a year. I find that unacceptable,” she explained.

She also said the project should have done more to support workplace development.

The mayor said that the city encouraged developers to include and expand an inclusion plan that would support local minority-owned businesses and get them into newly-created retail space.

“The $50 million contribution to micro-local business is a voluntary agreement that this development is committed to,” Bliss said.

Perdue acknowledged that movement.

“There was a 1.1% increase in the inclusion plan,” Perdue said. “That 1.1% increase represents about a $20 million increase in the inclusion plan to local, women-owned and minority-owned businesses.”

Perdue said though the vote didn’t go her way, she was pleased with how the issue has spurred community engagement. That did lead to some changes in the plan, she said, but not enough to get her backing.

“This conversation is a launching pad for what’s to come,” she said.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS SPEAK

Some residents took similar concerns to the City Commission meeting Tuesday night.

“We are here to restate the call for a greater benefit for public investment and greater transparency in this and future projects,” one commentator said.  

The night started even before the meeting, as organizers gathered outside city hall to rally for more money toward affordable housing. The development would contribute $8.5 million toward affordable housing, which organizers argued was not enough.

“Tonight, I ask is this project truly in line with the vision, is it serving the people who truly need it?” one person said.  

“On a project this size, $8.5 million is a rounding error and our residents who can’t afford housing need more than a rounding error,” another member said.  

The commission meeting also brought out residents from Grand Rapids’ Southeast side who were impacted by the water main break back in June. They called on the city to invest in its current infrastructure issues before starting new ones.  

“We come first, please help us. We are not against the project, we just need you to address our needs,” Mary Thompson said.  

“This main water break was caused by the failure of outdated public infrastructure in an under-invested area of the city,” Tom Schurino said. “Public infrastructure, like a water main, is one of the things that public money can be used to address, if we are going to have new downtown development, we have got to have infrastructure.  Also if you are going to have development, you got to make sure you can take care of what you already have and I am not sure that’s happening in the Third Ward.”

*Correction: A previous version of this article misstated a vote count. The plan passed 6-1 Tuesday morning. We regret the error, which has been fixed.