GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Big changes are ahead for Grand Action — the private group of Grand Rapids-area movers and shakers behind Van Andel Arena, DeVos Place, the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and a number of other large scale projects.
The group announced Friday morning the retirement of the organizations top leadership. Grand Action Committee co-chairs John Canepa, Dick DeVos and David Frey announced plans to step aside at the end of the year. But the organization won’t disband.
DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids (file photo)
In a statement released Friday morning, officials say an evaluation of the Grand Action completed earlier this year suggests the projects completed under the organization’s watch are under solid leadership and don’t need its oversight.
“We are not shutting off the engine, but rather keeping it in idle in case the role of Grand Action played in the past is needed again in the future,” said DeVos in the statement.
Grand Action was formed in 1992 as the successor of the Grand Vision Committee. Their first project was Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.
The groups launched a feasibility study, conducted private fundraising, helped guide public funding and created the Kent County/Grand Rapids Convention Arena Authority which owns Van Andel Arena as well as DeVos Place.
A Sept. 8, 2017 photos shows the interior of the newly built Michigan State University Grand Rapids Research Center.
It was then on to renovations at the Civic Theatre and the Secchia Center of the Michigan State University School of Human Medicine.
Those projects alone add up to $420 million in investments downtown — $130 million of that from private funds.
“An entire generation has come of age who have come to know downtown Grand Rapids only with these attractions,” said Canepa in the release. “They would not likely recognize the downtown we began with in 1992.”