GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A developer wants to build a 24-story, mixed-use building — containing 118 apartments, a five-floor parking garage, and retail and office space — across the street from Van Andel Arena.

The proposed building would be located on what is now a small, city-owned parking lot.

Grand Rapids city officials on Tuesday, Jan. 21, will ask the city commission to approve a one-year option agreement that would create a path for Grand Rapids-based Wheeler Development Group to purchase a parcel at 22 Ottawa Ave. NW and move forward with the project.

“We’re honored to have been considered for this project,” said Jason Wheeler, a spokesperson for the group, formerly known as Orion Real Estate Solutions.

“That site itself is really exciting to us mainly because the way it will continue to activate our arena district.”

Located across from Van Andel Arena, the city-owned property under consideration is currently home to a small surface parking lot and the city’s Ottawa/Fulton parking ramp. The proposed building would be built on the surface lot portion of the property, which is about 17,400 square feet in size.

The building, which would connect to the Ottawa/Fulton parking ramp, is estimated to cost about $55 million to develop, according to a city memo. Construction, at the earliest, could begin this fall, and would take roughly 28 months to complete.

The city began pushing for development at 22 Ottawa in October when it issued requests for proposals for the site.

The city requested that the proposals include up to 200 new parking spaces, a residential component — a portion of which should be “affordable” — as well as the inclusion of women- and minority-owned contractors.

Jono Klooster, the city’s acting economic development director, said the city received four proposals for the site. He declined to name the other firms that submitted proposals but said they all came from Michigan-based entities.

He said the project is “extremely important” to the city, and that the proposal submitted by Wheeler Development Group meets many of the goals laid out in the city’s strategic plan.

“This project really checks a lot of boxes,” Klooster said. “If you go from top-to-bottom we’ve got for sale housing, we’ve got apartments both affordable and market rate, office space, expansion of parking and then first floor activation with retail.”

Wheeler said the 24-story mixed-used building represents his firm’s vision for the property. If the city commission approves his firm’s request for a one-year option to purchase the property, Wheeler said his firm will begin doing further due-diligence on the project. That would include design work as well as a further examination of the demand for downtown housing, office and retail space, he said.

“It’s a real complex site because of its small footprint, and that will require a lot of extensive planning from our teams,” he said.

In addition to the 118 apartments, a city memo indicates the building would include 19 condos on five-floors, 44,000-square-feet of office space on three-floors, 185 parking spaces, and 5,215-square-feet of ground-floor retail space.

Wheeler Development Group has indicated between 10 percent and 20 percent of the apartments “can be made affordable to households earning 80 percent or less than the area median income.” For a one-person household, for example, 80 percent of Kent County’s area median income translates to an annual income of $42,960.

Wheeler said he’s confident there’s demand for more downtown housing, and that the site under consideration is attractive because of its proximity to the arena and other downtown amenities.

“We feel there’s a lot of excitement here for people to continue to live in this area,” he said.

If the city commission approves Wheeler Development Group’s request for the one-year option, the firm would be required to pay the city $30,000. If Wheeler Development Group were to purchase the property, a formal development agreement would come before the city commission for approval.

Wheeler said his firm is working on the project with Integrated Architecture.

Read more:

Gale Warnings for Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, 14-foot waves forecast

Lawmakers oppose Lake Huron high-level nuclear waste storage

Video tour of $2.3M serene lakefront home with yoga studio