Making Room: The Rise of Adaptive Reuse in Grand Rapids Housing
Downtown Grand Rapids is undergoing a housing transformation, but not everything is being built from scratch.
Instead, developers are adding new homes by converting old hotels, office buildings, and even factories into fresh, modern living spaces across the city’s core and along the Grand Riverfront. This creative approach, known as adaptive reuse, is helping meet the city’s growing demand for housing. By reimagining what’s already here, Grand Rapids is preserving its historic character, strengthening neighborhoods, and offering new opportunities for middle- and lower-income residents to live in the heart of the city.
More than just a trend, adaptive reuse is becoming one of the city’s most effective tools for building a more inclusive, sustainable, and livable urban core.
More than just a trend, adaptive reuse is becoming one of the city’s most effective tools for building a more inclusive, sustainable, and livable urban core.
What Is Adaptive Reuse — and Why Now?
Adaptive reuse is the process of converting existing buildings for new purposes. Instead of demolishing an outdated office or underutilized hotel, developers transform these structures into residential or commercial properties, often faster and more affordably than starting from the ground up. In a city like Grand Rapids, where developable land is limited and the need for housing is urgent, adaptive reuse is a smart, scalable solution.
In recent years, the city’s population has grown faster than its housing supply. A 2022 Housing Next assessment projected that Grand Rapids will need around 14,000 new housing units by 2027 just to meet demand. Adaptive reuse helps close that gap by unlocking new homes in buildings already connected to infrastructure, transit, and walkable neighborhoods. It also adds housing density without contributing to sprawl or sacrificing green space.
Just as importantly, many of these projects are designed to include housing for low- and moderate-income residents. This approach not only adds more homes, but it also helps ensure that the revitalization of downtown and riverfront areas benefits a broad cross-section of the community.
Transforming the Riverfront: From Hotels to Homes
One of the latest adaptive reuse projects in Grand Rapids is the conversion of the former Radisson Hotel Grand Rapids Riverfront. Located at 270 Ann Street NW, this seven-story riverfront hotel is being transformed into 139 modern apartments, with a second phase planned to add another 60 units on adjacent land. The project is partially funded through Michigan’s Transformational Brownfield Plan and includes designated units for middle-income renters, a critical step toward making riverfront living more accessible.
Developer Jack Hoedeman, who is leading the project, summed up the vision with a simple but powerful statement: “Everybody should be able to live on the river.” That vision aligns with the city’s broader goal of bringing more life, equity, and vibrancy to its riverfront corridor.
Image courtesy of CWD Real Estate Investment.
Converting a Bank Tower into Downtown Living
In the heart of downtown, another major transformation is underway: the redevelopment of One Eleven Lyon, formerly known as the Fifth Third Bank Building. Originally built in 1967 as the Old Kent Bank headquarters, this 10-story high-rise is undergoing a partial conversion, turning seven upper floors of office space into 140 rental apartments. The bank and other tenants will remain open and operating on the lower floors throughout construction and will continue to occupy those spaces once the upper levels are converted into apartments.
This project marks the first major office-to-residential conversion of its kind in Michigan. Developers hope it sets a precedent for cities across the state, especially those facing a surplus of office space and a shortage of housing. City leaders are optimistic that One Eleven Lyon will help move Grand Rapids closer to its long-term goal of 10,000 downtown residents, a critical threshold for supporting a thriving, walkable downtown economy.
From Empty Factories to Vibrant Urban Neighborhoods
On Grand Rapids’ southwest side, the Factory Yards project is redefining adaptive reuse at scale. Spanning 15 acres along Godfrey Avenue SW, this ambitious redevelopment is breathing new life into a cluster of historic industrial buildings, once home to furniture manufacturing and wartime production, but largely vacant for decades. Now, the site is being transformed into a mixed-use residential district with 467 planned housing units, a food hall, artist studios, retail space, and public gathering areas.
The $150 million development is backed by over $100 million in incentives through Michigan’s Transformational Brownfield Plan, the first Grand Rapids project to qualify when it was announced in October 2023. In addition to the apartments, the development is expected to generate hundreds of jobs and bring long-overdue revitalization to a historically overlooked part of the city.
Notably, Factory Yards includes nearly 100 income-restricted housing units, helping ensure that this neighborhood revival includes space for residents of varying income levels. It also connects directly to broader efforts to restore and activate the Grand River corridor, including the planned amphitheater and river restoration projects nearby.
A Track Record of Reimagining Space
Berkey & Gay Factory in 1948 via Grand Rapids Public Library: The Robinson Studio Collection
While today’s adaptive reuse projects are gaining attention, the concept is far from new in Grand Rapids. In fact, it has deep roots. The early 2000s saw one of the earliest large-scale examples when the massive Berkey & Gay furniture factory in the Monroe North neighborhood was converted into the Boardwalk Apartments – a 500,000-square-foot complex featuring loft-style living, offices, and retail space.
Just across the river, another landmark found new life in 2006. Originally built in 1872 as Grand Rapids’ first high school, the former Union High School in the West Grand neighborhood was converted into Union Square Condominiums, adding 180 residential units.
Since then, more historic buildings have followed suit. The Morton, once a 1920s-era grand hotel, was revived as a mixed-use apartment building with 99 units. The Rowe, another iconic hotel, was restored in 2016 with apartments, condos, and ground-floor commercial space.
Each of these conversions helped prove the viability of adaptive reuse and showed how honoring the past can meet the needs of the present.
Economic and Environmental Benefits
Source: Factory Yards
The rise of adaptive reuse in Grand Rapids brings a wide range of benefits beyond simply adding new housing. Economically, these projects create construction jobs, support long-term employment, and stimulate local business growth. More downtown residents mean more customers for restaurants, shops, and entertainment venues – a win for the local economy.
Environmentally, adaptive reuse is a smarter, greener way to grow. It avoids the carbon costs of demolition, conserves the materials and energy embedded in existing structures, and reduces the need for new infrastructure. Many reused buildings also incorporate modern, energy-efficient upgrades, further reducing their footprint.
Perhaps most significantly, adaptive reuse helps strengthen the city’s identity. By preserving historic architecture and blending it with modern design, these projects celebrate Grand Rapids’ past while building for its future.
Making the Most of What We Have
As Grand Rapids continues to grow, adaptive reuse is proving to be one of the city’s most effective tools for building inclusive, sustainable communities. It provides faster pathways to new housing, protects historic buildings, and brings new life to areas that have been underused or overlooked.
Projects like the Radisson Hotel conversion, the One Eleven Lyon redevelopment, and the Factory Yards transformation show that the city doesn’t have to look outward for solutions – the answers may already be standing. With vision, collaboration, and the right incentives, Grand Rapids is turning yesterday’s buildings into tomorrow’s homes and making room for more people to thrive in the heart of the city.
