New Hotel proposal for Grand Rapids once again demonstrates that expanding the wealth of the rich takes priority over housing for working class families

A new hotel is being discussed for downtown Grand Rapids, specifically for tourists and those attending convention center events. According to an article in Crain’s Grand Rapids Business:

The 2024 study conducted by Hotel Valuation Services found that DeVos Place loses out on 58 events annually because of inadequate event space and low hotel supply downtown.

The study was done by Loveland, Colo.-based consulting firm Hotel Valuation Services (HVS). HVS is the only global consulting firm focused exclusively on the hospitality industry, with 300 employees at 50 offices throughout the world.

The Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article also stated that the following groups are involved in the discussion – the Convention Arena Authority (CAA) board, hotel executives, Experience Grand Rapids, the city and county, and Grand Action 2.0 to discuss the results and decide whether to develop a project.

It is worth noting that each of the entities that will be involved in deciding that a new hotel would be necessary for Grand Rapids all have DeVos family involvement. Grand Action 2.0 was co-founded by the DeVos family. The DeVos family has representation on the CAA board and Experience Grand Rapids. The DeVos family controls most of the hotels in downtown, thus they also would represent most of the hotel executives. In addition, the DeVos family contributes more money to City and County officials than any other group or family. Therefore, the recommendation coming from this meeting will be to build a new convention center hotel.

According to the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business article, the proposed 600 room convention center hotel would cost $355 million. We are constantly hearing about the shortage of housing in Kent County, specifically affordable housing, so image if $355 million was spent on new affordable housing. If we estimate that a modest home could be built for $250,000, then $355 million could be used to pay for 1420 new and affordable homes for families. If we were looking at rental costs for a family and put monthly rental costs at $2000, then the $355 million cost of the proposed hotel could cover the rental fees over 1 year for 14,791 families.

It is clear that bringing tourists and people for the convention center is more important than meeting the basic needs of the thousands of residents in the greater Gran Rapids area that are economically struggling. City and County officials always seem to find money (public money) for projects that expand the wealth of members of the GR Power Structure, but never for the people who do the actual work in this city.

Add in the fact that the DeVos family will have the most say in the proposed convention center hotel, which ultimately means it’s a done deal. When are we going to build a movement to resist this dynamic and demand that funding should be used to support working class families?