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Credit: Andy Balaskovitz/Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
Detroit-based Bamboo purchased the former UICA building in downtown Grand Rapids.
Detroit-based co-working company Bamboo purchased a large downtown Grand Rapids building that had been on the market since 2020.
Bamboo acquired the 39,418-square-foot, four-story former Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts building Wednesday for $4.5 million — almost half of its initial listing price nearly five years ago. Bamboo executives late last year announced their intention to expand to the Grand Rapids market by purchasing and redeveloping the building at 2 W. Fulton St. into a co-working space.
Plans for the $3.1 million renovation call for 45 private offices that seat one to 10 people, eight high-tech conference rooms, a 2,600-square-foot mezzanine for event space and a 4,000-square-foot outdoor patio that could be rented out for events. Bamboo also plans to build a 3,400-square-foot private suite for a permanent anchor tenant to manage a business incubator that supports entrepreneurs.
The company was co-founded by CEO Amanda Lewan and real estate developer Mike Ferlito, both of whom were named to last year’s group of Crain’s 40 Under 40 honorees.
JLL in 2020 listed the building for $8.7 million, which decreased to $5.4 million in November last year after Pure Real Estate Brokerage took over as broker. JLL’s Grand Rapids office and Birmingham-based Aeres Real Estate represented Bamboo in the purchase.
Credit: Justin Razmus/Crain’s Detroit Business
Bamboo co-founder and CEO Amanda Lewan has been looking at expanding the business to Grand Rapids for a couple of years.
The building, which formerly housed an art gallery and a movie theater, sat on the market for five years and was sold below its listing price because of its unique nature and layout, said Jeff Karger, executive vice president of JLL’s Grand Rapids office.
“It took someone like Bamboo with a lot of creativity to take a building meant for displaying artwork and a theater, and having someone with that creativity to see it for what it could be versus what it was,” Karger said. “That brought it across the finish line.”
Karger said they toured the whole downtown Grand Rapids market looking for the right building for Bamboo, and several buildings could have worked.
“The unique architecture and location was something that kept drawing their eye back to that building,” Karger told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business. “It’s the entry into what I would call the central business district, so activating that corner is good for downtown and in general is good for the community. Outside investment in downtown Grand Rapids and diversifying the groups that own buildings is also good for us.”
The building was purchased from Ferris State University. In June 2020, the university’s board of trustees voted to move UICA operations to the Woodbridge N. Ferris building at 17 Pearl St. on the campus of Kendall College of Art and Design, citing negative financial effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Constructed in 2010, the former UICA building includes a 3,000-square-foot common space including a bar area, a 1,000-square-foot art studio and 195-seat movie theater. The building was constructed to serve the unique purposes of the UICA.
“We’re pleased by the sale of the UICA building and look forward to any opportunities to collaborate with Bamboo, the new owners,” Ferris State University President Bill Pink said in a statement.
— Crain’s Detroit Business report Nick Manes contributed to this report.
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