GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Big Boy's location in Grand Rapids abruptly closed this week, leaving people wondering if this move is at all connected to the proposed soccer stadium in the area.
We say abrupt because, even on Wednesday, customers were still showing up to the restaurant. Instead of sitting down for a meal, they were met with locked doors and a sign that read: "Sorry this location is now closed. Come see us at our Wyoming location on Wilson Ave."
"Everybody's going to miss it, you know," said one customer.
Another customer, Perry Holden, told FOX 17 he goes there on a weekly basis because his wife "likes the Slim Jim."
"I'm going to the car to call my wife to see what she now wants," he said.
"What do you think she's going to say?" we asked.
"I'm not sure that's camera ready," Holden joked.
Good news for Holden and his wife, Big Boy's Vice President of Operations, Frank Alessandrini, told FOX 17 they have no plans to leave Grand Rapids. He said they have some spots in mind, although nothing is concrete at the moment.
"We'll be back sooner than later," Alessandrini said over the phone.
In the meantime, he said the employees at the Pearl St. NW location have been offered to continue their work at any other location in the area, including the ones in Wyoming and Cedar Springs.
"It's a rough time of the year to do this, but all of them were well taken care of," Alessandrini said.
He mentioned Big Boy closed their doors on Monday after their lease had come to an end, and the landlord's were "thinking something different."
The property at 407 Pearl St. NW is owned by DP Fox Ventures, LLC, which is an entity of Dan and Pamella DeVos.
Nick Wasmiller, a spokesperson for the family, sent FOX 17 this statement:
“Dan and Pamella DeVos acquired this land because they believed it held tremendous potential for a future community use benefitting West Michigan residents, employees and visitors. The current tenant vacating the site provides the opportunity for advancing exploration of future uses in the weeks and months ahead.”
This comes less than a month after FOX 17 learned, just down the river, Charley's Crab would be demolished at a site also tied to the DeVos family.
Wasmiller shed light on the common thread:
"Each site has been part of the community’s visioning work in recent years exploring future development opportunities and each provides great potential for beneficial additions to the region."
As far as what opportunities he might be referring to, these locations also just so happen to be potential targets for the proposed soccer stadium, and other mixed-use development, as a part of Grand Action 2.0.
Those plans, including a definite location for the stadium, are not finalized.
Late Wednesday afternoon, FOX 17 received this statement on behalf of Kara Wood, Grand Action 2.0's executive director:
"After months of due diligence related to a potential site for a downtown soccer stadium, Grand Action 2.0 has now prioritized our due diligence focused on the site located between Winter and Summer Avenues, just north of Lake Michigan Drive.
"To be clear, no final decision has been made on a site or on development of this project.
"Our ability to build a stadium depends on several factors – most importantly, community and stakeholder engagement, completing due diligence, acquiring property – including, in this case, the property at 407 Pearl St., NW – and securing lead private and public sector funding. We are not able to confirm site information at this time because none of those critical factors have been completed.
"Completion of those factors will also determine the project timeline; however, we remain optimistic that we will open the stadium in 2026.
"We will continue to partner with key public and private sector stakeholders to complete the due diligence required to make this vision a reality."
