Bridge Street is booming: How it became one of Grand Rapids’ hottest nightspots

Originally published on MLive

By Melissa Frick | mfrick@mlive.com & Danielle James | djames@mlive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Ally and Collin Brady, both 28, are enjoying a lively happy hour at O’Toole’s before darting across the street for dinner at New Holland Brewing.

Right next door, friends Cathy Kipfmueller and Mary Skowronski are having a meal at Gin Gin’s, savoring the stylish atmosphere.

Three blocks away, Carmen Veldhouse, 47, and Peggy Vereecken, 68, are soaking in the more casual, low-key atmosphere at Steel Cat Bar.

This is a Friday night on Bridge Street, one of Grand Rapids’ most active nightlife destinations, popular for its walkability and diverse, vibrant atmosphere. Located just west of the Medical Mile, Bridge offers all the fun and excitement of being near the heart of downtown, while still having a sense of neighborhood and community.

Bridge Street has gone through a major evolution over the last decade thanks to an influx of investment from developers and local business owners. What once was a handful of run-down buildings, dive bars and various retail shops is now a vibrant collection of trendy restaurants, cocktail lounges and old-school bars.

From newer establishments like Gin Gin’s and General Wood Shop to long-standing classics like Anchor Bar and Fratelli’s Pizza, Bridge Street offers an eclectic mix of beloved nightspots, whether you’re looking for a slice of pizza, a cheap beer or an espresso martini.

“What makes the area cool to me is that the businesses complement each other pretty well – we’re not all doing the same thing,” said Paul Reinert, who, along with his brother David Reinert, owns Butcher’s Union, O’Toole’s and the new Gin Gin’s on Bridge Street.

“You can come down here probably 20 times per year and have a unique experience.”

Bridge Street is not Grand Rapids’ only nightlife destination – there are plenty of other popular hotspots like Eastown, Michigan Avenue or the heart of downtown, all offering their own unique experience. But Bridge Street is unique for the significant growth it has experienced over the last decade.

A ‘night and day’ evolution

Maria Cannizzo, the owner of Fratelli’s, has been on Bridge Street long enough to remember what it was before the developmental boom.

In 2005, she and her husband bought the former Bridge Street Pizza, at 435 Bridge St. NW, and later opened what is now Fratelli’s Pizza. At the time, there wasn’t an active restaurant scene on Bridge Street like there is now.

Aside from Anchor Bar, O’Toole’s, and Monty’s – a club owned by the Reinert brothers that was later turned into Butcher’s Union – it was largely a random assortment of storefronts, including a bridal store, a consignment shop, and an adult theater and sex shop that served as a sleazy gateway to downtown.

“It was just a different vibe than it is now,” Cannizzo recalled. “I just feel that it was run down due to the times.”

It wasn’t until the mid 2010s when things began to change.

In 2014, Rockford Construction announced plans to build a massive $17 million mixed-use development on a forlorn block of Bridge Street, which would be anchored by a gleaming New Holland Brewing Co. distillery and brewpub.

At the time, the project represented a major milestone in the revival of the city’s West Side, which had lagged behind the revitalization of downtown across the river.

RELATED: With $17 million New Holland project, West Side revival nears major milestone

The evolution of Bridge Street and Broadway Avenue starting in 2014 and where New Holland Brewing built “The Knickerbocker” location in 2016.MLive File Photos

The subsequent addition of Bridge Street Market in 2018 further transformed the area, adding a neighborhood grocery store within walking distance of residents on the West Side.

Since then, Mike Mraz, Rockford Construction’s real estate development team president, said the company has invested a total of around $150 million in the area, though that figure also includes Fulton Place Apartments several blocks away.

“The number goes up from there,” he said, of other businesses’ spending. “Nearly every single building... (has) been reinvested in by the owner/operators.”

After those initial projects, more restaurants and cocktail bars opened up along the street, evolving from a dive bar area to an “eclectic mix of restaurants, breweries and bars,” Reinert said.

Josh Lunger, vice president of government affairs for the Grand Rapids Chamber, described Bridge Street as “one of the most obviously transformative” places in the city over the last decade.

Alberto Garza, who lived on Bridge Street in the late 2000s and last year opened up the LGBTQ bar General Wood Shop at 507 Bridge St. NW, said the difference between the area now and two decades ago is like “night and day.”

Garza first moved onto Bridge Street in 2006, and after a few years living out-of-state, he moved back to Grand Rapids in 2018 and worked to open the cocktail bar. But that beloved West Side feel is still there, he said.

“It still feels like your local neighborhood bars,” Garza said. “They’re a little more sparkly, but it’s still the West Side.”

West Side grit

Because of the wide variety of bars and restaurants on Bridge Street, it draws a diverse crowd.

On Wednesday nights, you’ll see crowds of Grand Valley State University students heading to Boot Night at New Holland for deals on steins of beer. On weekends, there are typically lines out the doors of O’Toole’s and Anchor Bar by 9 p.m., with people ranging from their 20s to their 50s eager to get inside.

“We do see all the different strata of types of people,” said Eli Harper, general manager of New Holland. “You’ve got the college crowd, you’ve got the young urban professionals, and we’re family-friendly, too.

“We’ve seen people who came here as college students who now have young families, and coming back here.”

Daryl and Jennifer Kamp, both in their 40s, headed down Bridge Street to meet coworkers at New Holland Brewing on Friday, Nov. 15.

The Lowell couple said they’ve both been coming down to Bridge Street since college, back when “this was the happening place,” Daryl joked.

“Now, it’s grown up with us,” Jennifer said.

She said 20 years ago, O’Toole’s was the place for college kids and “now that we’re hitting 40… (Bridge Street) kept up with this same generation.”

These days, they bring their children downtown to eat at Nonla Burger and spend date nights downtown.

“But you can still go to Anchor Bar afterward too,” Daryl said.

Daniel Rivera, 27, and XAvion Gill, 24, said they love coming to Bridge Street because it offers a wide range of bars depending on what scene you’re looking for. On Friday night, the pair was headed to Butcher’s Union to celebrate Rivera’s birthday with a cocktail.

“I definitely noticed it’s a very diverse bar scene,” said Gill, who was visiting Rivera from Kalamazoo. “It’s calm, it’s not as chaotic as other parts of downtown where it gets rowdier. People are more respectful.”

As a gateway to the city’s West Side, Bridge Street gives that feel of being a neighborhood business district just steps away from downtown. Lunger said much of Bridge Street’s success can be attributed to the large population of residents located nearby who were ready to support the neighborhood’s growth.

The Gutowski family, including Walt Gutowski Jr. and Jes Gutowski-Slaydon, own and operate Swift Printing on Bridge Street, along with owning several other properties along the corridor. The longtime residents helped to refurbish Bridge Street’s iconic Red Lion neon sign, which towers over several area bars.

The neon sign for the Red Lion restaurant, a longtime fixture of city’s west side that closed in 2004 along Bridge Street in Grand Rapids on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. The sign was refurbished and placed across the street from the original location in 2021 as an ArtPrize entry.Joel Bissell | MLive.com

They’re also the family behind the Bridge Street Band, a jazz-specializing collective that plays gigs across the state and was once Amway Grand Plaza’s hotel band.

While Gutowski-Slaydon said growing up on Bridge Street meant embracing the sometimes-gritty nature of the corridor, it has always been a safe place for her.

“(Now) it’s so much fun and so exciting to see that other people now have joined something that I’ve always loved since basically inception,” she said. “Now… I’ve got friends that say, ‘hey, have you heard about Bridge Street?’”

What’s next?

With big plans on the horizon for downtown Grand Rapids – including a new soccer stadium being planned on the West Side – residents and business owners are excited for the future of Bridge Street and downtown Grand Rapids.

The new soccer stadium will be built just blocks away from Bridge Street. Meanwhile, construction has already begun on the new amphitheater that is designed to draw national acts to Grand Rapids and spark a larger revitalization along the Grand River south of downtown.

RELATED: New 8,500-seat Grand Rapids soccer venue to be named Amway Stadium

While Cannizzo said there are some concerns about parking – which is already tight along Bridge Street – she is excited for the growth.

“I can’t even imagine how on soccer nights, it’s going to impact our businesses,” she said.

Reinert said he doesn’t think Bridge Street’s evolution is done. He and his brother recently opened up Gin Gin’s at 345 Summer Ave. NW, kicking off further expansion south of Bridge Street.

“I think Bridge Street has come such a long way, in that it has these complimentary businesses, that I don’t see that coming to a stop,” he said. “I see it continuing to develop, moving forward.”