Posted Mar 17, 2024, 5:24 PM
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Detroiter4life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Back home in Georgia!
Posts: 4,061
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‘A sea of concrete,’ a Grand Rapids plaza could get greener starting in 2026
Quote:
After years of holdups, an effort to transform Calder Plaza from a barren stretch of concrete to a greener, more amenity-rich space could start to take shape in 2026.
Exactly what the renovations will be hasn’t been finalized.
But a plan to resurface the plaza, which sits on top of a city-owned parking garage, is serving as a jumping off point. The city of Grand Rapids and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) plan to reexamine whether ideas proposed in 2017 to add more greenery, a shaded pavilion, a splash pad and more, can be done in conjunction with the resurfacing project in spring 2026.“I’m excited that we are reengaging in the conversation,” said Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss.
The plaza is due to be resurfaced so the city can add new waterproofing material to keep water from leaking into the parking deck below the plaza.
Bliss described Calder, which opened in 1969 at the tail end of a massive downtown redevelopment project called urban renewal, as “wildly underutilized.” Outside of events such as Festival of the Arts and World of Winter, the plaza sits empty much of the year.
“It’s a sea of concrete, and it’s not a very welcoming place for people to come and linger,” Bliss said. “I think that was the impetus of the desire to reimagine Calder. How do you still create a space that can be used for large events … and also how do you make it a space where people want to come outside of events?”
Located along Ottawa Avenue NW in front of Grand Rapids City Hall, the plaza is home to Alexander Calder’s iconic “La Grande Vitesse” sculpture. At that time, members of the Grand Rapids City Commission discussed sprucing up the plaza with more trees and greenspace. The idea gained steam, and renovations to Calder were later included in the 2015 downtown master plan. By 2017, after soliciting community feedback, DGRI presented a vision for the site to the city. Its total price tag was $25 million, but the idea was to do the work in phases.
Since then, outside of an elevator being added to the plaza, no major renovations have occurred.
What’s been the hold up?
“We have other competing projects, and there are only so many resources,” Bliss said.
Projects along the Grand River, where officials are working to restore the waterway’s rapids and create more parks, trails, housing and amenities, took precedent, she said. The pandemic also put a pause on the project.
“We can’t do everything all at once,” she said. “That’s how you have to operate. You move forward when you have the resources.”
After the pandemic, when DGRI revisited the project, it learned that the city was planning to resurface the plaza in 2026, said Mark Miller, managing director of planning and design at DGRI. It made sense for DGRI to plan its project in coordination with the city so any improvements to the plaza wouldn’t be destroyed during the resurfacing work, he said.
“It gives us a lot more flexibility in the design,” Miller added. “We don’t have to stick to the rigidity, necessarily, of where the planters are, or where electrical is or any of that stuff, because we can start to put new stuff in when we’re taking off the deck.”
Grand Rapids City Engineer Tim Burkman said resurfacing Calder Plaza will involve removing 4-5 inches of concrete, replacing stormwater pipes and a waterproofing membrane that sits on top of the roof of the parking deck below.
It’s expected to cost $11 million. That figure does not include any enhancements DGRI wants to make to the plaza itself.
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https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rap...g-in-2026.html
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