Story

The Grand Rapids Civic Theatre is the largest community theatre in Grand Rapids and one of the largest and oldest in the entire U.S. The building, originally constructed in 1905, had cramped lobbies, limited access and outdated building systems. Tower Pinkster Architects revived the theatre's original grandeur and infrastructure while re-organizing it for greater efficiency, accessibility and safety. Focusing on patron amenities, a three-story atrium along the north façade provides much needed reception space, restrooms and balcony seating.

Williams & Works was selected by Tower Pinkster to provide surveying and site engineering services for the building renovations and curb side improvements for the theatre. The project required a topographic design survey, development of a removal, site layout, grading and utility plans. The design of the site improvements was smoothly integrated into the Tower Pinkster bid documents by distributing electronic versions of the design documents. It was possible to construct the improvements without the need for construction staking due to dimensional ties provided on the plans. This project was completed in the winter of 2006.

The critical elements of this project were the coordination with the City of Grand Rapids to design a passenger drop-off and realign the curb in Library Street to make the entrance to the theater more pedestrian friendly. The entrances and new curb ramps at the intersection were designed and constructed to meet current ADA standards. Surface runoff was conveyed to the existing storm sewer system, a portion of which was adjusted to match the new curb lin