Downtown Resources

The Downtown Alliance

The Downtown Alliance is a Business Improvement District (BID) located in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids. The property owners decided to create the Downtown Alliance in order to make the downtown a better place to work, live, and visit.

The activities of the Downtown Alliance are governed by a 24 person Board of Directors, which includes property and business owners, residents, non-profit entities, education and government representatives.

The Downtown Alliance has several committees:

• A Maintenance and Beautification Committee: The majority of the Downtown Alliance’s budget is focused on maintenance and beautification efforts. Due to this effort, the downtown has never been cleaner! In summer 2006, 60 planter boxes were planted with flowers throughout the district. These planter boxes helped infuse the area with blossoms and color. Further beautification projects are now being explored.
• A Marketing Committee: The Marketing Committee has recently taken responsibility for marketing the downtown to an expanded audience. A downtown brand and marketing plan have been created along with a new downtown website. The website will serve as the main source for downtown information—from restaurants, to events, to parking, and more.
• A Merchants Council: The Merchants Council is a vehicle for downtown restaurants and retail businesses to communicate with one another and to work together to strengthen individual businesses and the downtown community as a whole.
• An Executive Committee: The Executive Committee works on issues of policy and direction and helps guide the overall efforts of the Downtown Alliance.

Purpose Statement:

The Downtown Alliance is an organization designed, governed and implemented by downtown stakeholders to strengthen the downtown area by:

• advocating for the interests of downtown;
• providing a clean, friendly and attractive downtown;
• creating a more productive business and community environment;
• preserving and enhancing the downtown character;

all of which are essential to downtown’s success as a place to work, live, shop and recreate.

Downtown Alliance Officers:

• Chair - Ray Kisor, Grubb & Ellis| Paramount Commerce
• Vice Chair - Joe Tomaselli, Amway Hotel Corporation
• Treasurer - Robert Partridge, GRCC
• Immediate Past Chair - Kurt Hassberger, Rockford Construction
• Maintenance and Beautification Chair - Shaun Biel, DeVries Properties
• Marketing Committee Co-Chairs - Chad LeRoux, Amway Hotel Corporation and Janet Korn, GR/Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Merchants Council Chair - Dan Gendler, San Chez
• Downtown Alliance Executive Director - Sharon Evoy
• Downtown Alliance Marketing Coordinator - Nicole Weichelt

The Downtown Development Authority

The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is a development agency responsible for the improvement of the downtown area. Established in 1979, DDA projects have significantly contributed to the growth and development of downtown. Using incremental property taxes collected from downtown properties, the DDA has financed numerous public improvement projects that have led to increased private investment in the downtown district.

Since 1980, the DDA has invested about $120 million in various improvement projects. This investment has leveraged, directly & indirectly, over $1.9 billion in private and institutional investment within the downtown area. The most noticeable of these projects includes the construction of the Van Andel Arena, expansion of the convention center (now known as DeVos Place), construction of the new Grand Rapids Art Museum, construction of the Interurban Transit Partnership’s Rapid Station Transit Center, reconstruction of Monroe Center & Rosa Parks Circle, construction of Heartside Park, and reconstruction of historic Ionia Ave.

The Downtown Improvement District (DID) Board

The Downtown Improvement District (DID) Board is a board of the City of Grand Rapids charged with the oversight of the downtown Business Improvement District. The DID manages the assessment and renewal processes, and ensures that the work of the Business Improvement District (BID) is carried out. The DID and Downtown Alliance were launched in April of 2001.

The DID board is chaired by Robert Herr and has nine members; one member is a City representative and the other members include business and property representatives. The DID is staffed by Jay Fowler, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

One of the responsibilities of the DID board is to survey the DID stakeholders, to gather feedback and to guide future work. Survey results from a spring 2006 study of DID stakeholders included the following:

• Almost half the respondents found the downtown “very clean” with only a couple of people rating the downtown as unacceptable.
• 60% rated downtown Grand Rapids as cleaner than other mid-sized downtowns.
• 93% said that the beautification efforts have improved or greatly improved the appearance of downtown.
• 67% of the respondents said they felt very safe when walking downtown; 33% said they felt moderately safe. 70% rated downtown as safer than other downtowns in other cities.
• The respondents also stated that sidewalk maintenance is still the top priority for assessment payers.
• Holiday decorations, a website, beautification efforts, and advocacy all ranked as very or somewhat important to 70% of the respondents.