West Michigan construction industry finds optimism ahead for 2020

Construction and development professionals in West Michigan remain optimistic as they look toward 2020, even though the upcoming presidential election and ongoing talent issues are causing headwinds. 

While some markets might slightly change next year, industry experts who spoke with MiBiz during a recent executive roundtable said they are interested to see how downtown Grand Rapids developments will spark additional new projects. Many also noted that collaboration and partnerships are becoming key to the industry’s success.

Participating in the executive roundtable were:

• Craig Baker, president at First Companies Inc., a Grand Rapids-based general contractor
• Melissa Collar, partner at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, a Grand Rapids-based law firm that sponsored the roundtable
• Jim Conner, senior vice president at Triangle Associates Inc., a Walker-based general contractor
• Andrew Eckert, senior project architect in Grand Rapids at architecture firm Ghafari Associates
• Curt Mulder, president and co-owner of Wolverine Building Group Inc., a Grand Rapids-based construction management firm
• Suzanne Schulz, urban planning practice leader at Progressive AE Inc., a Grand Rapids-based architecture and engineering firm

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