Experience Grand Rapids created a video to showcase seven major development projects planners might take note of along the Grand River downtown. Kate Lieto, vice president of marketing for Experience Grand Rapids, says the 90-minute animated film, “Dream Grand and Grow,” originated from the organization’s effort to come up with a way to illustrate how the projects fit together when there was little or nothing to actually show yet. Projects highlighted in the video include the newly completed Lyon Square plaza, Amway Stadium, Acrisure Amphitheater, the Grand Rapids Public Museum expansion, the $797 million Fulton & Market mixed-use development, Grand River Greenway improvements, and the ecological river restoration effort that includes returning the rapids to the river through the removal of several dams.
Area artists worked with the production team, recreating downtown Grand Rapids in 3D by blending drone footage with animation. One of the markets the production specifically targets is meeting planners, Lieto says. “These are all amenities attendees can enjoy,” she notes. “We’re selling to meeting planners now who are booking events for 2028 and well beyond, so these amenities will be fully available by the time their meetings take place.”
