Kent County plans to move its administrative offices out of downtown Grand Rapids, relocating their services to its campus on Fuller Avenue.
The plan, which is still dependent upon several rounds of approval from county leadership, is "a generational decision" that will consolidate space in an attempt to provide better service to residents.
"We believe this is a huge win," Kent County Administrator Al Vanderberg said to FOX 17 in an interview.
Vanderberg says the current administration building, located next to Grand Rapids City Hall and Calder Plaza, is a "difficult building to navigate" due to its underground parking garage and the different grades of surrounding streets.
"It's a struggle for people," he said.
A new, five-story administration building on Fuller Avenue, situated closely to the Kent County Sheriff's Office, Parks Department and Health Department, would offer residents a more accessible means of visiting the county clerk, treasurer, register of deeds, equalization and other offices.
"The vision is to have a facility where customers can drive right up. Walk in. Walk out," Vanderberg said. "The stress of trying to find their way through a building that's unfamiliar to them — and having to pay for parking — is gone."
Pending approvals, Vanderberg says "everything" in the downtown administration building will relocate to the Fuller campus upon the completion of a 120,000-125,000 sq. foot facility that will roughly stand where the former Kent Community Hospital is currently located.
"The new county administration building should be a building that we call 'government nice,'" Vanderberg said. "We want it to be something of which Kent County residents are really proud, but it won't be opulent, because we are Kent County."
Then, the Kent County Prosecutor's Office and other court-related services located in a building on Ionia Avenue will move into the old administration building and the former will be sold.
The combined costs of moving, demolishing the hospital and designing and constructing a new administration building in its place is estimated to cost between $120 and $135 million, according to Kent County Facilities Management Director Tim Bradshaw.
"We're still very early," Bradshaw said. "We can really only provide a range at this point."
Similarly, Bradshaw says the accessibility and walkability of the new building is a priority of its design.
"That's what makes coming to work every day fun for me," Bradshaw said. "It's a generational project."
"Someday when I retire and get to talk to my grandkids, I can drive them over to the new administration building and tell them every intimate detail of how it was built."
Construction on Kent County's new administration building could start as as soon as Fall 2026 and the offices are targeted to open in Fall or Winter 2028.
