GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Construction of the new Amway Stadium officially began today with a ceremonial groundbreaking near the corner of Pearl Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue.
The 8,500-seat stadium is expected to cost $175 million. It will be funded through public and private money, including $33 million from Amway for naming rights and an increase in the Kent County hotel tax.
"Another chapter opens for the west side of Grand Rapids, where the west side has been defining and redefining itself, and is now adding a new definition to the west side of Grand Rapids as the home of West Michigan soccer," said Dick DeVos, Grand Action 2.0 Co-Chair.
The stadium will feature a team store, private suites, and a restaurant. Upon completion, it will host a professional soccer club in the MLS Next Pro league for approximately 17 home matches per season, along with 50 additional events of various types.
Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand expressed optimism about the stadium's impact on the surrounding area.
"You know, Chicago's got Wrigleyville, but we've got Soccerville. We've got an area where I hope that this will stimulate housing around here. It will stimulate new businesses around here, and it will be a kernel of a new, funky, interesting, individualized, distinctive neighborhood in our city," LaGrand said.
The Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority will own and operate the facility, which is projected to attract 160,000 visitors to downtown each season. According to Grand Action 2.0, the venue will create 330 new jobs and generate over $400 million in new economic impact for Grand Rapids over the next 30 years.
"The synergy of all of this activity and what it will what it will bring is much more than any single event. It's compounding. It's a synergy. It's a multiplier effect, the ripple effect, as they call it, of these kinds of projects," DeVos said.
Construction is expected to take two years, with the first match scheduled for spring 2027.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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