BOSTON SQUARE COMMUNITY HUB

A Collective Community Design

 
 

the hub

This community hub will provide a communal front porch and living room for current neighbors and the generations of neighbors to come!

Construction started in the Fall 2022 on the building (1534 Kalamazoo Ave. SE) and is being transformed into a two-story community hub that will become the front porch and living room of the Boston Square community. The design and plans for amenities within the hub were informed by neighbors - all reflecting what neighbors wanted to see, hear, feel and experience in their community. Together with neighbors, Boston Square Together partners created large-scale community feedback loops, a group of 25+ highly-engaged neighbors in decision-making processes called the Neighborhood Advisory Committees (NAC) + Workgroups, and hundreds of hours chatting in 1-1 conversations with neighbors regarding the hub.

Boston Square Together held a celebration for the start of construction on April 26, 2023, called, “Raise the Roof: The Boston Square Community Hub “Skybreaking”. Learn more about the event and see pictures by clicking here.

Mlive: Community hub to be ‘cultural anchor’ of large-scale Grand Rapids development

What is the vision?

Boston Square neighbors experience the joy of a thriving neighborhood.

What is the mission?

Increase the quality, availability, and effectiveness of educational and community-based programs designed to prevent disease and injury, improve health and enhance the quality of life in the neighborhoods served.

 

Inside the boston square community hub

Meant to draw the community inside, the Hub will not only act as a front porch to the community but a living room that will offer several amenities allowing neighbors to work, learn, gather, unwind and grow in new ways.

 

What we heard neighbors say

After factoring prior City of GR plans and feedback loops through Boston Square Together efforts, loops, there were three top activities and amenities that neighbors wanted to see in their community.

#1 Education and Programming

#2 Open Green Space

#3 Sustainable Food

Another priority surfaced around “Multi-generational gathering spaces (recreational, entertainment, etc.)” and a community hub was proposed. Neighbor voiced-priorities included:

  • Gathering place for children

  • Community engagement facility

  • Health and wellness center

  • Coffee house

  • Youth center

  • Early childhood/child care

  • Florist

  • Performing Arts Center

  • And so many more…

Amenities

  • High-quality state-of-the-art design

  • Health and wellness clinic

  • Early childhood education

  • Multi-purpose room (rentable by neighbors)

  • Community café

  • Shared workspace

  • A second floor full of agencies and non-profits to provide wrap-around services to increase access to resources and education that will improve the quality of life in the neighborhood

 

Neighbor feedback from Boston Square Together Open House.

 
 
 

COMMUNITY PARTNERS IN THE HUB

An Early Learning Center will occupy a 9,000-square-foot space and will initially accommodate up to 80 children. IFF, a nonprofit lender and developer headquartered in Chicago with a Grand Rapids office, facilitates the funding for the space. IFF provides loans, real estate consulting, and development to support mission-driving nonprofits in the Midwest. Based on thousands of hours of conversations with neighbors plus the prior City of GR plans, early childhood education has been a priority for Boston Square neighbors for at least 20 years. The Early Learning Center in the Community Hub will offer increased early childhood education for a large residential area surrounding Boston Square. It will provide additional opportunities to meet the high demands of growing families.

Corewell Health will operate a health center in 5,500 square feet of space on the main level. The center will offer primary care for both adult and pediatric patients. It will focus on value-based outcomes, reducing the burden of disease, and preventative tactics to improve the health of the area’s population.

“We are committed to community partnerships that help solve problems,” said Dr. Alejandro Quiroga, president of Corewell Health in West Michigan. “This neighborhood has lower health outcomes than people who live in surrounding neighborhoods. We aim to disrupt that pattern and help people here thrive.”