GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — During a series of public hearings at Thursday's Planning Commission meeting, commissioners approved two new outdoor bar spaces, a new medical facility, and housing units in Grand Rapids.
OUTDOOR BARS
Sip Shine, located at the former Harmony Brewing building on Stocking, will have a rooftop outdoor bar on their third floor after getting a special use permit to do so.
Multiple neighborhood associations signed on in favor of Sip Shine getting permission from the commission.
Sip Shine will have guided moonshine tasting, as well as a restaurant on the second floor, and a third-floor rooftop bar. Sip Shine also will host live music, with the Planning Commission's permission, indoors until 2 a.m.
Social House, another business, got permission to construct an outdoor deck. Multiple residents of the Plaza Tower apartment and condominium building spoke during the public hearing about their concerns regarding noise pollution from Social House.
Outdoor music was approved in accordance with City Ordinance until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.
MEDICAL FACILITY
Corewell Health received resounding approval from the Planning Commission for its newest proposal: nearly 20,000-square-foot cardiovascular ambulatory surgical center at 2984 Bradford Street.
Neighborhood associations near the Bradford development site spoke in favor of outpatient medical procedures.
"We're mostly interested in what we're going to put into it. This is something unique to the area. About a year ago, this service was not allowed in Michigan," Rodney VanderZand, Corewell Health Planning Director said.
The facility, Corewell Health says, will free up space in hospitals for outpatient heart procedures, and it will lower the cost of procedures for patients.
20 procedures per day would happen in the building's three cath labs.
Final approval for the Corewell project requires the City Commission's say-so.
HOUSING
A project that will effectively transform an entire city block in Grand Rapids got the final approval from the Planning Commission.
The "Sligh Block" is scheduled to go in at 446 Cesar Chavez. The plan will rehabilitate vacant manufacturing building and revitalize an area of Grand Rapids.
The project includes nearly 500 apartment units, a public plaza gathering space, retail, and 125 thousand square feet of "maker space" for local entrepreneurs and small business owners to incubate their ideas.
That project is now in the permitting phase. It requires state approval and oversight because the Sligh building, constructed in 1880, is marked as a historic site.
“It provides a significant number of dwelling units that are desperately needed in the city. I think there’s some great amenity space, the piazza, the plaza they’re proposing. It all really well aligns with the area-specific plan, that was created in 2015 by the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association. So, the project is really well aligned with the vision that they want to see come forward in their neighborhood,” Grand Rapids Planning Director Kristen Turkelson said.
The planning director for the city says setbacks and delays are to be expected when reconstructing an old building for a new use.
