📍 RIVER NORTH · FACTS CHECKED OCT. 24, 2026
One of the last big pieces of public riverfront near downtown is up for a rethink. The city is asking developers to apply to lead a year of study and planning for three city-owned properties at Monroe Avenue NW and Coldbrook Street, about 6.4 acres in all.
The best-known piece is the old Coldbrook pumping station. The current building went up in 1911 and once handled both the city’s water pumping and its electric lighting. It was taken out of service in 2022. The city wants proposals to think about keeping its historic face. Across the street sits the Development Center, where about 105 city staff handle permits and planning, so any plan has to decide whether that office stays, moves or becomes part of something new.
What the city is hoping for: a walkable mix of homes and businesses, buildings of five to seven stories, and real public access to the river and the trail along it. The city’s request sets a target of at least 40 homes per acre on average, with at least a fifth of them affordable to households at or below the area’s median income.
Nothing gets built yet. The partner the city picks studies the site and the market, talks with neighbors, and then gets the first chance to buy the land on the city’s terms.
“They’re not making any more riverfront than we already have.”
— Mayor David LaGrand, via MLive
Key facts
Where: 1101, 1165 and 1120 Monroe Ave. NW (the Coldbrook site and the city’s Development Center)
How big: About 6.43 acres, zoned for mixed use up to 5–7 stories
Timeline: Request issued Wed, Oct. 7; responses due Mon, Nov. 16; then a 12-month study and master plan
What’s next for the building: The Fire Department, a current user, expects to move its training to its new Pannell Road center in 2027.
Sources
Grand Rapids seeks development partner for major River North redevelopment (City of Grand Rapids, Oct. 7)
Request for Qualifications: River North (PDF) (City of Grand Rapids, Oct. 7)
Grand Rapids Fire Department breaks ground on new training center (City of Grand Rapids, Aug. 26, 2025)
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