5/3 Building converting top 7 floors from office to residential

[Zads]

Incredible news from Crain's, a conversion of the Fifth Third Bank Building downtown into some residential units.

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/cwd-proposes-32m-conversion-of-downtown-commercial-space-into-140-residential-units/

"CWD’s plan would convert about 95,025 square feet of existing commercial space into residential use. The 140 residential units would be a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, with 28 of the units earmarked for income-qualified households earning no more than 100% of the area median income, according to plans CWD filed with the city.

Construction work is expected to begin this fall and take about 18 months to complete, CWD indicated in the filings."

[joeDowntown]

I moved this into its own topic as I'm sure we'll be talking about this project for months/years. 

This is very exciting, smart, and I believe it's on my list of predictions for 2024 (would love to see CWD convert the Lemon-Wheeler Building on Ionia to housing. It's a beautiful building, seems like it'd have a good footprint, and it seems like its been underutilized (I used to work on the upper floor and it definitely wasn't 100% occupied). 

For CWD, this seems like such a logical move as they have the ability to offer clients many options for new space, and concentrate office space into existing buildings while potentially rethinking other building uses. A Mixed use building (5/3 will remain with the top 7 floors being converted to residential) will make this area more active 24/7. I just wish they could have converted the WHOLE building and moved 5/3 to another office building downtown.

Construction should start this fall. I'm excited for this one!

Joe

[GR_Urbanist]

I wonder if this will include some development on the lot/underground garage to the north.  140 units that can potentially see 280+ people moving in will have to accommodate them + existing 5/3rd workers,  one would think!

[Cookin_peacocks]

I've been hoping for a residential project north of Lyon for some time to help activate that area of DT.  Now if we can just get more storefronts....

 

I wonder if the old University Club pool will be part of the amenities for the apartments.