5 anti-Capitalist things to know about the new DeVos/Van Andel downtown development project

As a follow up to my last post, headlined, Billionaire families announce new development project in GR, wants $544 million in public funding, I thought it would be useful to do the same thing that MLive did. 

MLive did a follow up to the announcement about the new DeVos/Van Andel development project in downtown Grand Rapids, even though the follow up article didn’t really provide any new information than their initial post. I want to provide five points that we all need to be talking about, especially if we want to take away some of the power that the co-founding families of Amway have in this city.

First, even though it may not be the sexist thing to talk about, Grand Rapids has a serious issue around parking. I have already seen people on various social media platforms respond to the news about the new DeVos/Van Andel project on the corner of Fulton and Market regarding parking. People, especially those that live on the near westside of Grand Rapids are very concerned about the lack of parking in downtown Grand Rapids and their fear of having to pay for street parking in front of their own homes. Now, it is true that the initial MLive article about the new DeVos/Van Andel project did mention that it would include up to 2,500 parking spaces. However, there was no clarification if these spaces would be public or private, especially considering that there will be 130 hotel bedrooms, 76 condos and 595 market-rate (expensive) apartments. 

Add the lack of parking to the fact that Grand Rapids and Kent County officials are hell bent on attracting as much tourism to downtown as possible. Tourism will bring even more cars to an area where parking is difficult to find, with the added dynamic that Grand Rapids just upped the cost of parking, which also included extending the hours for parking and increasing rates for events.

Second, the cost of housing with the DeVos/Van Andel project is all market driven, which means it excludes the majority of people already living in Grand Rapids. This project will include a 130 unit hotel, with rooms starting at $400 a night. There will also be 76 condos, but we don’t know the prices for those as of yet. However, after doing a search for the average price of a condo in downtown Grand Rapids I found $389,950.00 as the average. 

Then there is the cost of the 3 types of 595 apartments that will be part of the DeVos/Van Andel project. The cost of these apartments are: for a studio apartment, that would be $2,643 per month, $2,833 for a one-bedroom, and $3,401 for a two-bedroom. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the average cost of rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Michigan, based on the Fair Market Rate, is $1,204. However, the cost is higher in Grand Rapids, and according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for someone to afford the average cost of a 2 bedroom apartment in Grand Rapids, they would have to make $26.33 an hour. Most people I know do not make that kind of a wage.

Third, we all have to stop buying into the narrative that these projects are transformational, or to more accurately put it, such projects are transformational for those who already control most of the land and other assets in downtown Grand Rapids, such as the DeVos and Van Andel families. As I stated in yesterday’s post, the DeVos/Van Andel project is requesting $544 million in financial incentives, for a $738 million project cost. This means that the DeVos/Van Andel project people are asking for roughly 75% of the cost of this project to be picked up by the public sector. 

Beyond this, imagine how much money the DeVos/Van Andel people will make off of the 130 unit hotel, the 76 condos and the 595 apartments. These families will be making millions on a regular basis, not the people who will clean and maintain those properties or provide security for those buildings. It is likely that those workers would not be able to even afford to stay in the hotel rooms, plus they certainly will not be able to afford the cost of any of the 76 condos, nor the 595 apartments. These spaced are reserved for the business class and those that make 6 figure salaries and up.

Fourth, it is not likely that we will see any local politician – city, county or state elected official question or challenge the new DeVos/Van Andel project. These issues are not part of the candidate platforms for those running for Mayor of Grand Rapids in November, for Grand Rapids City and Kent County Commission seats, or those that represent Grand Rapids in the State Legislature. 

Politicians and candidates will not speak out against the use of public funding/financial incentives for the DeVos/Van Andel project or any other major downtown development project because they will not publicly challenge the members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. When was the last time you heard a local politician publicly challenge the power of families like the DeVos and Van Andel families? These politicians and candidates do not have the guts to do so, plus most of them actually believe that the DeVos/Van Andel project and those like it are transformational. 

For example, the legislation that allowed for the increased in the hotel tax in Kent County that was voted on in August, was based on House Bill 5048 of 2023, which was sponsored by House Democrat John Fitzgerald (District 83). The Democrats in the State House and Senate unanimously voted for it, with some Republicans joining them. Here is what that legislation said about how the hotel tax could only be used:

Generally, a county must use the revenue from the imposed excise tax to pay for specified items, including the administration and enforcement of the tax ordinance, the financing of convention and entertainment facilities, and the promotion of tourist and convention business in the county. Under the bill, these requirements would apply to revenue from a local unit of government’s imposed excise tax.

Based on this recent example, the question is, why aren’t politicians, and especially Democrats, creating policies that re-directs the kind of funds generated by the hotel tax in Kent County ($24 million annually) going to fund housing and other basic needs of the people whom they claim to represent? Because they are cowards and because they embrace business as usual politics.

Lastly, since we can’t rely on local politicians to represent the interests of of the major of Grand Rapids and Kent County, it will be necessary to build a movement that not only demands that the public has a say in how public funds are used, but to make demands on using the disgustingly larger amount of wealth from the small number of billionaires and millionaires in Kent County for real community needs – housing, food, transportation, health care, renewable energy, etc. Imagine how many lives would be improved if the public had control over public funding. Imagine if there was a movement to demand that the wealthiest members of this community should give that money to the people who made their wealth through their labor – a point I made about the Meijer family wealth increasing during the pandemic. Who wants to be part of such a movement?