An ambitious Grand Rapids development project now has its development team.
Black Wallstreet Grand Rapids (BWSGR) announced its development team Monday, Dec. 12, and co-founder and President Preston Sain told GRBJ the capital campaign can now begin in earnest.
“This is one of the final steps needed for us to truly launch our capital campaign,” Sain said. “We’ve got a great core team, and I believe this will open the gates for the campaign.”
The development team will be led by Bazzani, a developer and general contracting firm committed to sustainable communities. Sain said he hopes to be a trendsetter in local development with the sustainable goals.
The rest of the core BWSGR development team includes:
- Pride Builders Group
- Pure Architects
- Custer
- Black Lake Construction
- City of Grand Rapids economic development department
The timeline remains the same for the 35,000-square-foot Flagship District at Eastern and Burton Village District, Sain said, with demolition taking place in spring 2023 and construction slated to finish by fall 2023. Renderings for the $15 million project came out in September.
The flagship project includes 11,000 square feet of commercial space and 34 apartment units.
The development team will be in place for all eight business districts in the Third Ward, but Sain said there is room to incorporate other companies as well. The other seven districts are:
- Oakdale Street SE
- Madison Square
- Madison Avenue and Hall Street
- Neland Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Street
- Eastern Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Street
- Boston Square
- Grandville Avenue SW (in the First Ward)
With the development team in place, Sain said he will begin taking the capital campaign on the road. The goal is to secure 100 companies willing to pledge $1 million each over the next 16 years.
ChoiceOne Bank was its first pledge in August.
The flagship project did not receive $6 million it proposed for Kent County American Rescue Plan funding from the federal government.
This story can be found in the Dec. 26 issue of the Grand Rapids Business Journal. To get more stories like this delivered to your mailbox, subscribe here.