Rylee’s Hardware proposes $3M move to vacant Armory acreage

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

For many Grand Rapidians, a trip to Rylee’s Ace Hardware at 1121 Michigan NE, where's it's been for 55 years, evokes childhood memories of certain rites of passage: getting “new” used skates for growing feet or the purchase of a first hunting rifle.

Those memories are still on tap for kids, except they might be making them at a proposed new store one block away at 1240 Michigan, the site of the former Army Armory which was razed a couple of years ago.

Plans call for a new two-story building with a 20,000-square-foot footprint that will expand the current 12,000-square-foot store--one bursting at the seams with merchandise.

“We’ve tried to pack our store full of what the businesses, homeowners and rental property owners in the nearby neighborhoods need because they've been so good to us,” says Lori Terpstra, third-generation owner with her husband, Todd.

Plans call for a garden center, expanded housewares center, mower repair, and a new store specialty, organization options for condo and apartment dwellers. The second story will house administrative offices and one or two apartments overlooking Fuller Park.

Terpstra hopes to extend the walkability and bike-ability of the Fulton Heights and Midtown neighborhoods and decrease traffic congestion on Michigan by adding a “back” entrance/exit off Fuller. A corner of the property adjacent to Fuller Park could be accessed by a shared driveway and walkway that would double as a landscaped gateway to the park.

Phase 1 of the proposed project is the construction of the store at the rear of the property. Phase 2 includes construction of an 8,000-square-foot retail space along Michigan.

The project goes before the zoning board on April 24^th.

Redstone Property Group of Spring Lake is handling construction.

Source: Lori Terpstra, Rylee’s Ace Hardware