Downtown Grand Rapids's blueprint for the next chapter
Downtown Grand Rapids has entered a new era of growth and opportunity, and it didn’t happen by accident.
Built on decades of shared commitment, GR Forward helped focus the work and align action around a common vision. The results are visible today: more residents, more businesses, more ways to get around, and public spaces filled with people, art, and energy. Downtown is also increasingly connected to—and interdependent with—adjacent neighborhoods and the broader region.
But the world keeps changing. The pandemic accelerated shifts in how people work, shop, gather, and experience cities, and those changes continue alongside evolving technologies, market conditions, and rising expectations.
So we're launching Core Priorities as our next chapter. It focuses on the fundamentals that make Downtown work every day: safety and cleanliness, getting to and around downtown, supporting local businesses, and strengthening connections between neighborhoods and the heart of the city. Because a strong core benefits everyone.
We'll define our Core Priorities together, and continue the momentum that has made Downtown Grand Rapids one of the region's greatest assets.
Downtown's Core Priorities and its next decade start with you.
GR Forward (2015)
A grocery store. Lyon Square. New housing. A riverfront people use. Nearly 90% of the plan’s vision brought to life.
Downtown has changed a lot!
More residents, more businesses, a soccer stadium, an amphitheater. But how people work, shop, and spend time has shifted in ways nobody fully predicted.
Core Priorities
Focused on the fundamentals that make Downtown work every day–safety, cleanliness, mobility, local business, and connections between neighborhoods and the heart of the city.
Downtown’s next decade starts with you!
Learn more about ways to get involved.