Deborah Johnson Wood
Grand Valley State University and
DeVries Development Properties, Inc. have come to terms regarding the purchase of property in downtown Grand Rapids for GVSU's
Seidman College of Business. The Board of Trustees approved a $4.42 million buy/sell agreement for the property and building at 22 and 38 Front Ave.
An existing building on the property is in poor condition and will be demolished. A state-of-the-art facility will take its place.
Seidman College of Business has 3,500 students and 140 faculty members, says Dean H. James Williams. The college shares a crowded space with other departments in the Richard M. DeVos Center on GVSU's Pew Campus.
"This will give us a front door to the community," Williams says. "They'll recognize that it's the Seidman College of Business, and that helps us move to the next level in quality.
"We plan to include a trading room with the technology to allow students to trade stocks and bonds in real time," he says. "We also want classrooms set up for team collaboration so when students go out into the working world they'll know how to work in collaboration."
The Small Business and Technology Development Center, Van Andel Global Trades, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and other groups will share space so they can "recognize some synergies they otherwise wouldn't be able to recognize," Williams says.
The new facility will honor the legacy of L. William Seidman, GVSU's founder, who died in May of 2009.
The college launched a $35 million capital campaign in September. The project architects are Integrated Architecture and Robert A. M. Stern Architects.
Construction begins next year with proposed completion in 2013.
Source: H. James Williams, Seidman College of Business;
GVnow.comDeborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].
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