$28M Hampton Inn hotel to break ground, become first hotel on Grand Rapids' Medical Mile

Monday morning, the first hotel to come to Grand Rapids' Medical Mile breaks ground in Mid Towne Village.

A $28M Hampton Inn & Suites aims to bring 142 rooms to an area flanked by Spectrum Health, Women's Health Center of West Michigan, the Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, the Van Andel Institute, and the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Mt. Pleasant-based Lodgco Management will own and operate the hotel, with developers of Mid Towne Village, Third Coast Development, holding an interest in the property.

"We started acquiring property for Mid Towne Village in 2002 and always thought it was a great property for a hotel," says Third Coast Development Partner Dave Levitt. "We originally thought the Women's Health Center would be where the hotel is and the hotel would be where the Women's Health Center is. In 2007, when the economy tanked, we had a hotel partner and they bailed."

The hotel will rise from what's now a surface parking lot at 425 Dudley Place NE, directly behind El Barrio restaurant, and will include a 200-car parking deck with a five-story hotel on top. The indoor pool and outdoor terrace will overlook the city and Belknap-Lookout hill to the west. Other amenities include several suites of rooms, a workout facility, and meeting rooms.

"This is really a great sign for West Michigan's general economy, and for the Medical Mile," Levitt says. "If you take the hotel, and then you look at the project that 616 Development is doing at the old Duck's Restaurant property, and Third Coast's redevelopment of the Miller Zylstra building and property, it's all driving a lot of good stuff long-term for the redevelopment of Michigan St. You start to add in all that density of people 24 hours a day, it's going to drive demand for restaurants and bars and shops."

Levitt expects the hotel will open in late summer 2015 and will create over 30 full-time jobs.

Architectural design: Integrated Architecture
Construction manager: Pioneer Construction
Civil engineering: Holland Engineering

Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Third Coast Development