A $175 million soccer stadium planned just west of Route 131 had some residents calling for a more comprehensive plan that would better address parking and traffic flow around the site. Nevertheless, it received significant support from the city today.
The Grand Rapids Planning Commission unanimously approved a special land use related to the soccer stadium being developed by Grand Action 2.0. The 7.25-acre project site currently consists of several surface parking lots on property owned by the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority and the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids.
Planning Commissioner Susan Shannon, who lives nearby on Bridge Street and can see the Dash site from her home, said “it's vacant.”
“I look down on asphalt, so the idea of looking down on something active and green with people is exciting to me and something the community could use,” Shannon said.
Planning Commissioner Laurel Joseph agreed with Shannon, adding that the city, MobileGR and The Rapids organizations are coordinating on the project to create a transportation plan.
The soccer stadium has a seating capacity of 8,500 people, with the potential to expand seating to a venue with a capacity of up to 11,000 people in the future. Progressive Companies (formerly known as Progressive AE) is the project designer.
No professional teams have yet been involved in the project, but the plan is for the stadium to host 17 professional soccer matches a year, as well as 56 other community events. This soccer stadium can attract more than 164,000 visitors per season.
The stadium will include an east and west wing connected by a circular concourse with a team store, locker rooms, administrative offices, press room, restaurant and concessions. The development could create up to 104 new jobs.
Grand Action 2.0 also plans an 18-story mixed-use element on an adjacent city-owned surface parking lot called Stadium District Tower. The city's Downtown Development Authority is leading the development of the tower, which will also include retail, office space, 260 apartments and 350 parking spaces.
The mixed-use component of this project is included in the transformative brownfield planning application that Grand Action 2.0 is seeking for the project, which also includes the Acrisure Amphitheater project across the Grand River. Funding incentives will be considered at the Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority meeting in April, and will also require approval by the full City Commission and the Michigan Strategic Fund Board.
The Stockbridge Business Association, West Fulton Business Association and West Corridor Improvement Authority committee all voted in favor of the soccer stadium. Similarly, the Greater Grand Rapids YMCA and Wright Place sent letters to city officials in support of the project.
“The Grand Rapids area is the largest growing market in the Midwest and is on track to become the fastest growing market in the nation,” Tim Mroz, Wright Place's senior vice president of community development, said in the letter. mentioned in. “This requires transforming the river, connecting trail systems, and welcoming high-density development along the river.”
Parking, traffic concerns
The soccer stadium will not require on-site parking and will replace 779 existing surface parking spaces in the city-owned DASH commuter lot and YMCA parking lot.
Because the project site is located in the city center, the city's zoning ordinance does not require on-site parking as part of the development. The lack of parking in the soccer stadium site plan has been a major point of contention for many residents on the city's west side, with one group criticizing the plan at a recent neighborhood meeting held for the project. exclaimed.
All nine people who spoke during the public comment portion of today's planning meeting were concerned about how the project would affect parking in the business and residential areas of the West Side.
The West Grand Neighborhood Organization and John Ball Area Neighbors hope to enter into a community benefits agreement with Grand Action 2.0, which would require a certain level of facility maintenance and other amenities that would benefit the surrounding area. There is a possibility. Neither neighborhood group submitted a letter regarding the project.
“We want soccer and we think it would be great to have soccer in the city, but first we have to do it,” said Annette Vandenberg, executive director of the West Grand Neighborhood Organization. I have something to do.” “I don’t think the plans are fully developed yet.”
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