KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — Church and local leaders gathered Saturday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Grand Rapids temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church, widely known as the Mormon church, is building a new temple on a 10.5-acre site at 2400 Forest Hill Ave. near Burton Street in Kentwood. The single-story temple will be around 20,000 square feet.

It will be only the second Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Michigan, with the first located in Detroit.

Saturday’s groundbreaking included words from church leaders, prayer and a song from a children’s choir. Some speakers said they’re excited to have a temple so close by, instead of having to drive to the east side of the state.

A temple differs from the church’s meeting houses, where congregations meet on Sundays, in that it is a sacred place used for specific ceremonies, like weddings.

There are currently about 200 dedicated temples worldwide, with around 160 more either announced or under construction. 

General Authority Seventy Elder Mathias Held, who presided over Saturday’s event, was just in Brazil helping dedicate a new temple.

“Now to be here in Grand Rapids, Michigan doing the groundbreaking of one of the newer temples is something special,” he said. “The temples are dotting the Earth, are being built in places closer to the members so that they can visit the temple more regularly.”

Michigan has more than 46,000 members of the faith, according to the church, in almost 100 congregations.

Once dedicated, those who can enter the temple itself will be limited to members, but the public will get a chance to step inside once construction is done.

“Before the dedication, there’s going to be about (a) four week time where everybody will be able to come into it and get to see the temple from the inside,” Held said.

He said the open house often draws in crowds of people who are curious about what the inside of the temple looks like.

The temple grounds will also include gardens, which will be open to the public.

Lois DeVries, who lives in a condo near the site, attended the groundbreaking ceremony with her husband. While the two are not members of the LDS church, she said she and her husband are delighted to have the temple in their neighborhood.

The couple have lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and have attended several planning meetings over that period on a few projects that were proposed for the property.

She said they like that the temple will not bring as much traffic into the neighborhood as some of the other potential projects would have.

“We know it’s going to be a beautiful facility,” she said. “It’s going to be an asset to the whole area.”

She believes it will be an “excellent addition” to the street.

“You look at these people, they’re so happy,” she said. “It’s a joyous occasion for members of the LDS church.”

Construction of the temple could take between two to four years, a spokesperson for the church previously told News 8, though Held expects it will be closer to two years.

Once done, he invited the community to come check it out.

“What we have seen usually is that wherever a temple is built, the whole community is lifted,” he said. “This is just a very special place of peace and quiet with members and nonmembers can come and enjoy that very beautiful building.”