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Crain's Grand Rapids Business

Essential business news, insights and analysis for West Michigan’s decision-makers.

Crain's Grand Rapids Business launched in 2023, bringing together MiBiz, the Grand Rapids Business Journal and Crain Communications to create the top source of business news, analysis and information in West Michigan.

10/29/2025

Grand Rapids-based restaurant group Project BarFly LLC, the operator of the HopCat beer bar chain, has sold to a Chicago-based private investment firm in a deal that comes five years after a previous owner filed for bankruptcy.

In a transaction announced today, Uncommon Equity LLC purchased Project BarFly, which owns 11 HopCat restaurants in Michigan as well as Stella’s Lounge in downtown Grand Rapids and a restaurant in Lincoln, Neb.

“We are excited to be acquiring HopCat at this pivotal point in time,” Dan Kipp, co-founder and CEO of Uncommon Equity, said in a statement on the deal. He added that Uncommon Equity plans to “carefully grow the HopCat brand while continuing their maniacal focus on great, value-priced food served in a friendly, neighborhood atmosphere.”

Uncommon Equity’s portfolio includes franchise restaurant operators Redberry Restaurants and Rackson, which operate Burger King, Taco Bell, Jersey Mike’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken stores. The firm also invested in Matt’s Cookies, Feel Good Foods, sauce maker Rib Rack and coffee equipment maker Diedrich Roasters.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/restaurants-1/hopcat-beer-bar-chain-sells-to-chicago-private-investment-firm/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/28/2025

The Grand Rapids Art Museum has secured $2 million in state funding to fix critical infrastructure problems caused by the experimental green building materials it used to achieve LEED Gold certification 18 years ago.

GRAM got $2 million of a requested state earmark of just more than $2.4 million as part of the $81 billion budget for fiscal year 2026 signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Oct. 7.

Erin Henges, the museum’s donor engagement and government relations manager, said in a July 30 House appropriations subcommittee hearing on the funding request that although the 18-year-old facility has a long list of projects to tackle, this funding specifically will go toward three “essential safety and operational projects.”

They include “replacing damaged HVAC floor grades with steel — the original aluminum grates are buckling and pose safety hazards to our guests and staff,” and “upgrading our outdated security system, which cannot be repaired if it fails,” she said.

The museum also plans to modernize its lighting system, “which relies on obsolete components that are no longer available,” Henges said.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/arts-entertainment/state-gives-grand-rapids-art-museum-2m-to-replace-failing-building-systems/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/23/2025

Tony McGhee has been driving 40 miles round-trip for the past nine months to manage a city where he can’t find a house.

McGhee in January became the city manager of Buchanan, a largely agricultural Berrien County community of about 4,300 residents and 20 miles inland of Lake Michigan. His housing predicament reflects a broader shift across rural Southwest Michigan, where buyers from Chicago and South Bend are driving up costs after being priced out of traditional lakeshore destinations.

“New Buffalo and the Harbor Country area, six, seven years ago, really got (cost) prohibitive for people, so those people moved inland,” McGhee said, referring specifically to the Three Oaks area, about 10 miles east of New Buffalo. “Now, Three Oaks has been bought out, and so that pressure is starting to move our way.”

However, Buchanan is preparing for that growth. The city is in the middle of a $20 million redevelopment of its downtown infrastructure to add all-new water, sewer and roads. With state and federal grant support, the work will mostly wrap by November.

Buchanan is also joined by other Southwest Michigan communities that are buying up obsolete industrial properties for mixed-use conversions, ushering in zoning reforms to help lure developers and turning to the state for funding support. It’s all a game of catch up after decades of stagnant housing construction.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/southwest-michigan-towns-confront-urgent-housing-pressure-as-chicago-buyers-move-inland/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/22/2025

Plans for the revitalization of Sugar Loaf Ski Resort in Northern Michigan are moving forward after the nonprofit that’s overseeing the 285-acre property’s revival hit its $8 million fundraising goal months ahead of a deadline.

The Leelanau Conservancy hit the fundraising target on Sept. 26, two months after announcing its plans to redevelop the Leelanau Peninsula mountain as a year-round community park after the property owner agreed to donate it to the conservancy.

Once a premier winter destination in Michigan, Sugar Loaf operated a skiing school and resort with an airstrip, hotel, lodge and condos in its heyday in the mid-1970s, attracting thousands of skiers daily.

It’s now poised for a fresh start as a year-round community park with trails for cross-country skiing, hiking and spaces to gather outdoors, as the Leland-based nonprofit plans to revitalize it for the next generation.

More than 1,100 people donated $1.6 million to the conservancy’s project, according to Brighid Driscoll, communications director for the Leelanau Conservancy.

The full revitalization is expected to take around five years.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/hospitality-tourism/revival-of-leelanaus-sugar-loaf-mountain-moves-forward-after-raising-8m/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/21/2025

Xtreme Fighting Championship aims to create the equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues for mixed martial arts fighters with the proceeds from a new $25 million raise.

The Grand Rapids-based Xtreme One Entertainment Inc. parent company envisions the XFC as a development league where fighters can hone their skills and build their personal brands with hopes of eventually competing in the top-tier Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) or the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Xtreme One Entertainment plans to raise the $25 million through a public stock offering and use the funding to unite small, regional MMA promotions across the country under one umbrella. Proceeds from the stock offering will go to scale the company and expand the XFC’s content, add more fights in new geographies, fund strategic M&A, enter other sports, and invest in technology to enhance fan and athlete experiences.

The corporation’s strategy to build XFC is “really about identifying that next generation of MMA athletes and giving them the platform both in the cage, but also outside of the cage to develop their own personal brand,” said Xtreme One President Chris Defendis.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/uncategorized/grand-rapids-firm-aims-to-raise-25m-to-launch-minor-league-for-mma-fighters/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/20/2025

The new state budget slashes Michigan’s tourism advertising campaign nearly in half, marking the second cycle in a row that deep cuts have followed a high-spending year while irking tourism groups over inconsistent support.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Oct. 7 signed the new fiscal year’s spending plan through September 2026 that includes a 46.6% cut to the Pure Michigan campaign. The $16 million general fund allocation includes the option to receive an additional $1 million in contributions from private investment partners, such as local convention and visitors bureaus.

The general fund allocation is nearly half of the $30 million allocated in the last budget, which also included an influx of federal funding.

Kelly Wolgamott, vice president of the Pure Michigan ad campaign, said that her office will make the best of the 2025-26 allocation. She described this year’s state funding as in line with last year’s, which also was supported by $14 million in one-time federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.

However, tourism industry leaders said the smaller budget will make it tougher to draw tourists.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/hospitality-tourism/pure-michigan-tourism-budget-slashed-as-industry-warns-of-losing-ground/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/18/2025

The Amway Grand Plaza is overhauling its culinary operations with three executive hires and menu changes as the downtown Grand Rapids hotel battles tightening customer budgets and rising costs.

AHC Hospitality, formerly known as Amway Hotel Corp. that also manages downtown Grand Rapids restaurants such as MDRD, Ruth’s Chris and Rendezvous, recently announced the appointment of an executive chef and a director and assistant director of food and beverage.

Executive chef Ricky Lund said “I think that is paramount with all of the chefs moving forward is making sure that we’re being seasonal so that we are able to manage the cost and then be able to deliver the best quality product at the same time.”

Amway Grand sources various products from West Michigan farms, including Caledonia-based wagyu supplier Orchard Hill Farms, Dutton-based Vertical Paradise Farms and Caledonia-based Pebble Creek Produce.

The cost pressures are affecting a wide swath of the restaurant industry. In a report earlier this year, the National Restaurant Association found that input costs for restaurants have increased by 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and those price increases are being passed on to customers. The trade group last month noted that menu prices at full-service restaurants rose 0.4% in August, which followed 0.5% price increases in June and July this year.

Read more here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/restaurants-1/amway-grand-overhauls-menus-and-culinary-leadership-amid-cost-pressures/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/17/2025

West Michigan’s dynamic business climate is full of visionaries, passionate leaders and people who thrive on making a difference in their organizations and the community at large.

Collectively, they shepherd billions of dollars of investment and touch the lives of thousands of employees, all while contributing to the local economy.

They’re the captains of industry who have molded the region’s economy into what it is today and driven it to evolve and innovate in ways that ensure its future remains bright.

This third edition of the 200 Most Influential Leaders in West Michigan is both a “who’s who” from around the region and a showcase of some fresh faces who are making a splash in the business community.

Read more about each leader here: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/meet-the-200-most-influential-leaders-in-west-michigan-for-2025/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/16/2025

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://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/preschool-chain-founder-lists-luxury-lake-michigan-retreat-for-6m/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/15/2025

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://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/adelaide-pointe-developer-scrambles-to-resolve-28m-loan-default/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/14/2025

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://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/food-drink/devos-backed-craftco-reopens-holland-distillery-with-expanded-spirits-lineup/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

10/13/2025

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://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/first-piece-of-147m-factory-yards-project-set-to-break-ground-next-year/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=soc-own

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