GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) -- There's an entire world under our feet, and few get to see it. All this month, we'll look at underground West Michigan, starting with one of the older underground walking tunnels still in use in Grand Rapids.
This particular tunnel connects DeVos Place and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. DeVos Place assistant general manager Eddie Tadlock took us where the public isn't allowed to go. The Grand Rapids Historical Society's Diana Barrett, who has written about underground Grand Rapids, joined us for the tour.
"The first part of the tunnel was made in 1932," explained Barrett. "It was a service for the hotel food to come to the auditorium for banquets, as well as a pedestrian tunnel for hotel guests."
During the Depression, then-city-manager George Welsh was looking for projects that could provide Grand Rapids jobs. He pitched the Civic Auditorium -- and a tunnel to connect it to what was then the Pantlind Hotel.
We started our tour at the DeVos Place side, where a long hallway leads to the tunnel entrance. "It's about a half mile all connected together," Tadlock explained.
As we walk, the tunnel is filled with storage, tables, and chairs -- and other things. "We have a walk in cooler and freezers," Tadlock said.
The tunnel on one end goes into the DeVos Place parking garage, an addition that's roughly 10 years old. "In the winter, a lot of people go jogging in the parking garage because it is heated," said Tadlock.
While the tunnel today is off limits to the public, it is still used like it was 85 years go to let the hotel's catering staff get to the convention center's banquet halls.
In the other direction, the tunnel passes under DeVos Performance Hall and then dips down "because it is going under Lyon Square," Tadlock explained.
Once the tunnel arrives under the Amway Grand Plaza, it takes on a slightly more regal look. We pass kitchens, and a staff cafeteria. Then, there's an elevator that takes us into the the Pantlind Hotel side of the Amway Grand Plaza.
While this tunnel has been closed to the public, it was later replaced by the city's downtown skywalks, which have a longer route connecting DeVos Place to the Van Andel Arena.
