GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After standing empty for years, demolition work on the Duthler's grocery store on Bridge Street has finally begun.
Crews started knocking down the building this week. The store closed in 2017 following issues with its lease.
A new apartment building is set to be built on the lot. Ryan Talbot, owner of Talbot Development, said the building will be five stories tall and have 148 apartments. There will be on-site parking, a fitness center, dog wash, roof deck and even a coffee shop open to the public.
The building will also not use any gas, according to Talbot, as the roof will feature multiple solar panels.
He said Grand Rapids needs more housing as the region grows, and he's hoping this new building will help.
"If you go all the way back to even 2008 when we had the financial crisis, we lost a lot of housing production capacity back then, and we've never really caught up. And so you know, the name of the game right now is to build as much as we can to try to help restore that supply and demand balance," Talbot said. "Right now we're still way out of balance. And so you know, this one project is not going to solve Grand Rapids' housing problem, right? Nor is the next one or the next one, but eventually we'll start to ease that pressure."
Talbot said his grandparents grew up and met each other on Grand Rapids' west side—so building in the neighborhood is special to him on a personal level.
"This part of town has always been a place I've thought of as like part of my own history, at least in a small way," he said. "And I'm really honored to be doing some work there and helping bring some more housing and start some more stories on the west side."
The building is set to open to the public in 2026.