When President Gerald Ford left the White House in 1976, the people of Grand Rapids, Michigan wanted to give him a hero’s welcome back to his home town. They tried to hold a parade that ran through the center of the city. But the downtown was dilapidated, filled with empty buildings. The Secret Service would not allow the parade to travel through downtown.
Since then, Grand Rapids has undergone 85 building rehab projects. It is now a clean, compact city with luxury hotels overlooking the Grand River. Art festivals blanket the city throughout the year. There is a bona fide entertainment district with a five-story dance club. High-rise apartments overlook its streets as people walk below.
With a metropolitan area of more than one million people, the city proper is still comparatively small, with a population of 188,000. But it is growing, with a concerted effort to build from the inside out. “A successful place needs a successful downtown,” said Janet Korn, senior vice president of Experience Grand Rapids, a marketing and development group. “Density adds to vibrancy. . . collaborative effort is the key to our success,” said Korn. She is currently working to develop the city’s riverfront, and has consulted interested groups as diverse as corporate executives to casual fishermen. “We try to make decisions that are right for the place, not just right for one person,” Korn said.
A beer destination
Grand Rapids is a beer town. It has 15 breweries in and around the city, all of them unique. Brewery Vivant serves Belgian and French-style ales amidst stained-glass windows in a 66-year-old chapel. Harmony Brewing Company makes beers fit for an acid trip, like their Absinthe Chocolate Donut Stout. Grand Rapids Brewing Company is Michigan’s first completely organic brewery. According to ratebeer.com, the city is also home to the third-best brewery in the entire world, a place fit for a hop-pilgrimage: Founders Brewing Company.
The Founders brewery sits half a mile from the downtown core, in a sprawling complex with dozens of bench tables, heated outdoor patio seating, and a bar the length of a party boat. All are filled with tourists and locals. It has a walk-up deli counter and a gift shop that sells t-shirts and snowboards. They have a stage where folk and bluegrass bands play while a bearded man controls the sound system using an iPad. Most importantly, they serve staggeringly good beers, like their Nitro Pale Ale—infused with nitrogen until it feels as soft as a cumulus cloud—and their Canadian Breakfast Stout, brewed with chocolate and aged in maple-syrup-laced bourbon barrels. The last batch they bottled resold on eBay for more than $100 a case.
A revitalization
“We have the amenities of a large city, but still have a tight-knit community,” said Tim Mroz, vice president of marketing and communications for The Right Place, an organization that promotes business development in Western Michigan. The city’s development is a result of constant urban planning.
“No one catalyst project is going to change everything,” said Kris Larson, president and CEO of Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. “It is a process of phases, a process of evolution,” said Larson, who believes that a city needs more than just visitors to drive through it. It needs to be a place people want to live 365 days a year.
Toledo City Councilwoman Sandy Spang believes that Toledo—less than a three-hour drive from Grand Rapids—is also undergoing a downtown revival. “We are transitioning from a sprawl model to one where it radiates out from a vibrant core,” said Spang. She hopes that downtown Toledo becomes a series of congruent mixed-use neighborhoods: offices, residences, and art venues all accessible by walk or bike.
There are enough building projects currently underway that Spang’s vision could soon become a reality. People and businesses are moving back downtown—Kengo Sushi & Yakitori, Black Cloister Brewery, Promedica’s headquarters, and the Berdan residences are all underway. Like Grand Rapids before it, downtown Toledo is becoming more than just a collection of large buildings. It is becoming the places and people who connect them.
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Dorian Slaybod is an attorney happily living in Toledo.