GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks has presented a nonprofit community developer in Grand Rapids' Boston Square neighborhood with an appropriations check of $1.5 million for a future housing development.
It comes from the state's fiscal year 2025 budget. The Boston Square Together project will include 45 units of mixed-income housing and a 9-thousand-square-foot food hall for local entrepreneurs.
The mixed-use, mixed-income housing development's appropriation was signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on July 31, 2024.
Amplify GR, a place-based nonprofit and community developer focused on preserving and widening pathways with neighbors, was awarded the one-time appropriation for the Boston Square Together I (F3) project.
Here are more details from a Clark Communications news release:
“The Boston Square F3 project is a public-private partnership that is bringing economic opportunity and increased housing options to neighbors of Southeast Grand Rapids, who have disproportionately carried the burden of disinvestment for decades,” said Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, who represents the Boston Square neighborhood. “I was proud to work with leaders, including Representative Grant, to secure this appropriation and increase our supply of quality, affordable housing in Grand Rapids.”
The appropriation was part of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity budget, which included priorities around alleviating affordable housing needs, investing in neighborhoods, and growing Michigan’s population through community development.
Amplify GR is grateful to Representative Will Snyder and Senator Mary Cavanagh, chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on LEO, and their members for investing in housing and neighborhood revitalization throughout Michigan.
“On behalf of neighbors in Boston Square, thank you to Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks and Representative Kristian Grant for recognizing the need to increase our supply of high-quality mixed-income housing and for supporting this important project,” said Jon Ippel, executive director of Amplify GR. “We are grateful for the continued commitment of our public and private partners in bringing new housing options to Boston Square and creating an innovative food hall for local entrepreneurs to launch or scale their businesses.”
The Boston Square I (known as “F3”) development will be located at 1480 Kalamazoo Avenue and is expected to begin construction in spring 2025 and be completed in late 2026. The 45 housing units will include 1,2, and 3 bedrooms, with 80% reserved for households earning 60% or less of the area median income. The food hall will offer flexible, affordable space for 6-8 local food businesses, bringing economic opportunity and increased food options to neighbors and visitors.
“As a longtime neighbor of Boston Square I am so supportive of increasing housing choices and providing affordable options for families at all income levels,” said Andrea Owens, an Amplify GR board of directors' member and owner of HourGlass Testing Solutions. “This project means a renewed commitment and investment to my neighborhood. I am grateful to our partners at the State of Michigan for investing in new spaces to provide economic opportunity to local business owners and quality housing to families who will become my new neighbors.”
The project is an anchor of the 10-acre Boston Square Together development, co-designed with more than 350 neighbors and stakeholders through a series of community meetings in 2019. When complete over the next several years, Boston Square Together will include a 45,000 square foot community center that features early childhood learning, healthcare, fitness and enrichment, more than 200 units of housing for seniors and families, 20 new homeownership opportunities, 50,000 square feet of commercial space, and a new city park. Learn more at https://bostonsquaregr.org/
Construction will begin this fall on a companion project, Boston Square II (F2), which will include 57 units of mixed-income housing and 5,000 square feet of commercial retail space along Kalamazoo Avenue. The project will open to residents in 2026.
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About Amplify GR
Amplify GR works exclusively in Southeast Grand Rapids, MI, with a mission to preserve and widen pathways in economic opportunity, mixed-income housing, education and community well-being so that neighbors can participate in and benefit from community growth. Part of the national Purpose Built Communities network, AGR joins 26 other communities around the country in fostering culturally rich, generationally inclusive and economically diverse neighborhoods
State Representative Kristian Grant, Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, and City of Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner Bing Goei are among those who joined Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks in the check presentation.Photo: Source: Jenny Luth/Amplify GR.