The 313-space, six-level parking ramp planned for the corner of Cherry and Commerce Streets will be the first in Grand Rapids to feature an automated, unmanned cash collection system.
“It’s a pretty high-tech parking ramp,” said Jason Wheeler of Rockford Development Group, the company building the ramp. “In addition to the automated cash collection system there’s an automated security system.”
Rockford owned the vacant lot for ten years and worked with Design Plus to develop a parking ramp that would serve Cooley Law School and Western Michigan University, both of which have a presence in the Cherry Landing district.
In 2005, the City of Grand Rapids bought the property and asked Design Plus to rework the site plan to create a parking facility that would serve all of the Cherry Street neighborhood as well as the educational facilities.
“The structure takes up the whole corner of Cherry and Commerce,” Wheeler said. “This completes the neighborhood—we now have educational facilities, residential, office space, restaurants, retail, and parking.”
Source: Jason Wheeler, Rockford Development Group
Photograph by Brian Kelly
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