5 Ways A Growing City Can Define Their Brand

Grand Rapids, Michigan as a city is growing their profile.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building momentum, growth and a cohesive narrative. Austin didn’t solely grow because of SXSW, Seattle first had Boeing before a tech boom. Raleigh and Durham attracted second headquarters for more space and research triangle graduates. A city’s history tells you just as much about its future as its past. Here are five ways a city can grow it’s own brand over time.

Located in the heart of the manufacturing Midwest, Grand Rapids, Michigan may be an unlikely candidate to be one of the best places to live, work, study, retire and raise a family. But the city of 200,000 (metro over 1 million) appears in more top lists than any of its size and stands up competitively with any major metro.

Grand Action, an organized group of action-oriented leaders, partnered to create necessary amenities to attract and retain talent. They built the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena as well as a massive convention center in DeVos Place, a downtown market, community theater and played a part in luring a major medical school from a Big Ten University.

They were one of the first cities of its size to land a JW Marriott almost two decades ago. All of these efforts “punched well above their weight class” at the time but today don’t remotely seem out of place.

Today, a revamped group of action-driven leaders, appropriately named Grand Action 2.0, is guiding construction of a $184 million riverfront Acrisure Amphitheater, which will open in 2026 as one of the largest such structures nationwide – bigger than Chicago’s waterfront Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park – and a $108 million, 8,500-seat downtown soccer stadium. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited last year, touting an expansion that will double the size of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport to help create a Midwestern hub with more direct flights.

“We’re a growing city realizing the incredible potential envisioned by many leaders over the past decades, entering a period of significant growth and opportunity,” said executive director of Grand Action 2.0 Kara Wood. “The foundation built on public-private partnership has inspired generations of leaders, residents, and visitors to invest in the future of West Michigan. And that investment has generated incredible returns.”

Grand Rapids’ metro has long boasted a successful group of privately held businesses. Several appear in Forbes’ top privately held businesses list. Grand Rapids and, to a larger degree, West Michigan as a whole, established itself long ago as “furniture city.” Office furniture giants MillerKnoll, Steelcase, and Haworth are all headquartered there. While the global growth of Amway created another boom, the dominant regional growth of Midwestern leading grocery chain Meijer launched yet another. And there’s no slowing down ahead, as top-10 global insurance broker Acrisure is ushering in insurance and tech booms driving more growth and jobs.

“To create a differentiated city from those across the nation, we must respect what got us to where we are – while also embracing the future with energy, creativity, and a togetherness that will create a welcoming community for all,” said Dick DeVos, chairman of The Windquest Group and co-chair of Grand Action 2.0 along with its predecessor Grand Action. “A key ingredient in every chapter has been leadership from the private sector. Businessmen and women who know how to get things done, who are willing to think creatively, insist on excellence, aren’t captive to local political fads or pressures, and stay focused on what’s best for the entire community over the long term.”

Some cities grow especially because of one industry, like Charlotte with banking or Salt Lake City with enterprise tech, Grand Rapids has the benefit of being one of the most diversified portfolios in the country. It’s even “Beer City, USA”, with a higher concentration of craft breweries than anywhere in the country, including nationally popular brands like Founders, which has a massive imprint on its downtown.

Not all efforts are focused on creating the next big thing, however. Some of the biggest needs any city faces appear when challenges arise; where success is determined by how a city leans in (or doesn’t) to exploring and implementing long-term solutions, such as what Grand Rapids has faced when seeking to ensure safety for all people and care for unhoused populations.

But in Grand Rapids, a diverse group came together quickly to learn, listen and eventually outline solutions that would improve outcomes for all. Investments were made by area leaders – in both the private and public sector – across the continuum of care, from emergency shelter to affordable housing. Ordinances to advance safety were enacted following discussion on a broad scale, including leaders of global businesses, housing focused nonprofits, private and public foundations, emergency homeless shelters, commercial real estate firms, retail stores, hotels, restaurants and more. It wasn’t always easy, but the hard conversations led to strong results that prevented shorter-term challenges from becoming much larger.

When others are asked to define Grand Rapids, the answer is not about being the biggest, and it doesn’t seek to be. It’s a right-size city. It has an affordable but robustly growing housing market, backed by a community that prioritizes maintaining this trajectory. As recently as 2019, Realtor.com’s hottest zip code in America was 49508, nestled squarely on the south end of Grand Rapids. Interior designers and planners like Jean Stoffer, host of Magnolia Network’s The Established Home, have been drawn to the area to work, film, and help improve the lives of others in the city and surrounding neighborhoods.

In an era where people now have more flexibility to work from anywhere, Grand Rapids’ bet on its potential as a city 30+ years ago is truly paying off, and there is ambition for more.

The right-size city is the new aspiration. The city that’s a quick flight to anywhere with everything you need already present. Grand Rapids is in the Midwest, so it won’t brag about itself, but make no mistake; this is the best right-size city in America, with the stats, the people and the “want to” needed to continue to drive forward.