GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Four years since the peak of the pandemic and the return to the office continues to be slow nationwide and here in Grand Rapids. Several companies haven’t made the return at all, causing a near record vacancy level in office space in the city.
“In Grand Rapids, we've gone from 9% in vacancy in the urban core pre-pandemic to about 14%,” Executive Vice President of JLL Jeff Karger said.
Jeff Karger is the executive director with JLL, a company specializing in commercial real estate. He doesn’t see vacancy levels leveling off anytime soon.
Bridgewater Place recently brought in JLL to help market its nearly 70,000 square feet of available office space left behind after Corewell Health left. It’s one of several buildings with massive amounts of available office space in the city.
Jeff says not only are fewer companies returning to the office, many are also shifting the way they use office space, using less space and doing away with traditional cubicle sectioned-off singular spaces and more open collaborative spaces and areas with clients.
There is some good news though with the available space found in Grand Rapids.
“JLL thinks that about 30% of buildings probably could be converted to a change of use, whether that's hospitality, residential, or another use altogether,” Jeff Karger said.
Some of the vacancies could be used to tackle the housing shortage we are seeing in the city. JLL is also seeing a migration to the suburbs where office space is close to daycares, grocery stores, and other amenities to make commutes more convenient.
Jeff also noted that foot traffic in downtown Grand Rapids is only at about 50% of what it was pre-pandemic, which could be cause for concern, long term, for downtown business.
