Crain's Grand Rapids Business

The founder who built a 25-location preschool chain from the ground up is now looking to offload her Lake Michigan retreat in a coveted neighborhood near Grand Haven for nearly $6 million. Bridgett VanDerHoff, retired founder and one-time CEO of the Grand Rapids Township-based AppleTree & Gilden Woods preschool company that she started in 1998, listed her 7,500-square-foot Lake Michigan home in Ferrysburg for $5,995,900 on Oct. 9. Sandi Gentry, broker-owner of the Sandi Gentry Team of ReMax Lakeshore in Grand Haven, has the listing for the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home called “Summer Wind.” The 0.4-acre property is in the Grand Haven Beach Association, with 115 feet of private low-bluff frontage on Lake Michigan. Gentry described this stretch of lakeshore as “the most desirable” area of Lake Michigan, with notable second homeowners including Michigan State University men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo and former Michigan Gov. John Engler. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g3BKJPRk

A developer is fighting to prevent his lender from seizing control of the $85 million Adelaide Pointe project on Muskegon Lake, claiming Independent Bank is sabotaging his efforts to sell parts of the development and resolve nearly $28 million in defaulted loans. Ryan Leestma, who is the co-owner and developer of the 35-acre project with his wife, Emily Leestma, seeks to block Independent Bank’s request for a court-appointed receiver to control the unfinished mixed-use project, according to new court filings. The bank’s lawsuit and receivership request filed on Sept. 22 in Kent County Circuit Court stems from nearly $28 million in loans for which the Leestmas are allegedly in default. Leestma said he has cooperated with Independent Bank officials and disclosed what he called “short-term cash flow needs,” but claims he was on track to make all payments for the project. As well, Leestma accuses Independent Bank of interfering with project management by controlling which portions are completed and contractors are paid. The developer also claims Independent Bank is deliberately attempting to harm the project and “offers a series of misleading half-truths,” referring in part to various appraisals of the Adelaide Pointe project that he claims came in below their value. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gg8jsAGD

After closing for a year, the former Coppercraft Distillery tasting room in Holland Township reopened October 1 as CraftCo Distillery & Social House with an expanded menu and showcasing all of Windquest Group’s spirits brands. CraftCo, the craft beverage portfolio for Windquest, the family office for Dick and Betsy DeVos, closed its Coppercraft-branded Holland and Saugatuck tasting rooms in October of last year in preparation for the rebranding. In addition to Coppercraft products, the CraftCo tasting room will also offer spirits it sells under the Jos. A. Magnus Co., Fox & Oden, Flying Ace Spirits and Thatcher’s Organic Artisan Spirits brands. Located at 184 120th Ave. in Holland, the new CraftCo Distillery & Social House also added a full food menu, replacing the previous snack offerings. CraftCo Distillery’s new menu includes a limited range of salads, sandwiches and entrees with a focus on American comfort food. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gdCzWTPY

Construction on the first new building at Grand Rapids’ $147 million Factory Yards development will begin in the second quarter of 2026, marking a key milestone for the sprawling Roosevelt Park project that has faced financing delays. Factory Yards at and around 655 Godfrey Ave. SW is mainly an adaptive reuse project to repurpose what was once a World War II-era parachute factory. Site plans call for turning 15.5 acres of former industrial property into 467 apartment units, 31,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, a 22,000-square-foot food hall and 30,000-square-feet of commercial offices. The project also calls for nearly 30,000 square feet of fitness and recreational facilities, along with 50,000 square feet of self-storage and a half-acre courtyard with 825 parking spaces. While crews continue demolition and abatement work across the site, the first new building will rise at 565 Godfrey Ave. SW. The 2.2-acre property formerly housed Tontin Hardwoods, before the millwork shop relocated down the street to 955 Godfrey Ave. SW. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gq32x5jS

Two historic downtown Grand Rapids buildings generating more than $150,000 annually as Airbnbs have hit the market for just under $1.75 million. Ryan Ogle and Jodi Smith, brokers with EXP Realty, have the listing for two buildings operating as short-term rentals at The Inn on Jefferson in downtown Grand Rapids, on Jefferson Avenue just south of Fulton Street. The sellers declined to be named in this article for privacy reasons. The listing includes a 4,577-square-foot house and a converted 3,300-square-foot former warehouse, each of which has two distinct guest suites. Together, the two buildings offer nine bedrooms that can accommodate 15-20 people. The brokers said the property currently generates annual gross rents of $157,832.32 based on an average booking rate of two nights per week. The sellers make about $63,052 in annual net operating income, which could double if the buyers increase to four nights of bookings. The property’s hotel license is good through February 2026 and can be renewed annually after that. The properties are billed as “luxury” suites in a prime location walkable to downtown. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gKQmagpU

After years of nurturing Grand Rapids’ underground music scene, all-ages venue Skelletones will close at year’s end as it gets squeezed out by rising rents and the increasingly residential development along the South Division corridor. Owner Mark Leech said the search is ongoing to find a new space for Skelletones, which traces its roots to 2000 as a venue for teenagers and college students below drinking age to see live music. “We’re hoping to make that hiatus as short as possible,” he said. Skelletones, a 150-person venue located at 133 S. Division Ave., primarily books independent, underground bands with a focus on punk, emo and hardcore shows. “We’ve tried to be more of the gateway to a young band getting their legs underneath them, learning how to be a band, learning how to develop, and as they get older, moving to … play some bigger shows at places like the Pyramid Scheme or the Intersection,” Leech said. Leech said growth on the South Division corridor has changed the neighborhood and made it hard for Skelletones to continue operating there, particularly as rent increases, parking shrinks and more residents move in. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dTien-MU

Anheuser-Busch InBev is nearing a sale of a farm that houses West Michigan’s Virtue Cider, which it listed earlier this year for $1.9 million, although founder Greg Hall anticipates continuing to operate the brand under a new lease. The cidery, located at 2180 62nd St. in Ganges Township, near Fennville, has been home to Virtue Cider since Hall, the former brewmaster at Chicago-based Goose Island Beer Co., started the cidery in 2011, specializing in high-end, European-style ciders. Hall initially sold a 51% stake in Virtue Cider in 2015 to Anheuser-Busch subsidiary Fulton Street Brewery LLC of Chicago, which does business as Goose Island Beer Co. Anheuser-Busch bought out Hall and Virtue’s other investors in 2017, taking over sole ownership before selling it back to Hall last year. However, the deal did not include the 48-acre Virtue Farm property, which Anheuser-Busch has continued to lease to Hall. Anheuser-Busch listed the property for sale in late May, according to the listing. In an email to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, Hall said that the Virtue Cider business “is most likely continuing to operate as is with a new landlord,” but added that “no deal is final yet.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gycEVReP

A new wholesale tax on regulated market cannabis passed late Thursday night as part of Michigan’s new budget. Growers and processors will be on the hook for a 24% tax on product sold to retailers to fund road repairs, a blow to an industry already struggling under the lowest retail prices in the nation and disappearing margins. But while the tax is set to be implemented at the start of next year, there remain many unknowns about just how the tax will be collected and what the consequences will be. Crain’s spoke with industry insiders to determine the ins and outs of the new tax, and what remains to be answered. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gpFzPcMR

A two-year-old state law that created new housing development incentives is leading to more than 3,000 new or rehabbed units statewide, spanning vacant offices in downtown Grand Rapids to rural communities that haven’t seen new housing projects in years. The law, which expanded brownfield incentives to create a housing tax increment financing program, has yielded a total commitment from developers to build or rehab 3,149 units statewide across 42 projects. About half of the units are planned in West Michigan, and several more projects are in the pipeline. “It’s just taken right off,” Amy Hovey, executive director and CEO of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, recently told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “What I love about it, too, is it’s bringing developers who have never used government resources to the table, because our market just isn’t working. What it costs to build a house is just not close to what the average Michigan family can afford to pay.” Since 2021, Michigan has added nearly 80,000 units out of a statewide housing gap of 119,000 units. Tools like the brownfield housing TIF program have helped, Hovey said. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gP8xgtsc

The Pulaski Days festival in Grand Rapids this weekend marks yet another opportunity for the city’s 14 Polish and Lithuanian halls to flex their cultural muscle and serve as a driver of community activity. The city’s 14 halls, the oldest of which dates back to the late 1800s, are located within a 5-mile radius of downtown. While they serve as visual landmarks of the community’s history and gathering places for immigrants, the halls also have grown to be a catalyst for the local tourism economy. Pulaski Days brings in about $500,000 to the Grand Rapids economy between hotel stays, events at the Polish halls, meals at restaurants and shopping. The event goes “back and forth” between the east and west sides of Grand Rapids, which allows Pulaski Days to spread revenue throughout different areas throughout town. The halls’ ability to attract members can be attributed in part to engagement through the festivals to sign up new members. They also attract new members through programming like Polish cooking classes, holiday activities, musical performances and charitable efforts held throughout the year. Read our story from February about the city’s Polish and Lithuanian halls here: https://lnkd.in/g8F78-3X