Grewal Hall opening pushed to August, several acts postponed

LANSING — The 1990s alternative rock band The Verve Pipe was scheduled to rock Grewal Hall, the new event space in downtown Lansing, July 15, but construction delays have postponed that show and several others as the opening has been pushed back to August.

After a year and a half of construction, the 6,000-square-foot Grewal Hall, 224 S. Washington Square, is now slated to open Aug. 10.

“I think it's gonna bring a lot of people into Lansing downtown,” said Mick Grewal, a local attorney for whom the venue is named. “It's great for the community.”

Now, the venue will open with The Menzingers, a rock band from Pennsylvania.

Jenna Meyer-Wagner, a member of management company MiEntertainment and Grewal Hall’s ownership group, said tickets for the postponed shows will be valid for the rescheduled dates and more information will be shared with ticket holders in the coming days.

Grewal Hall has about a dozen other events scheduled throughout the summer and early fall, including AJJ, stand-up comic Steve Hofstetter and The Happy Fits, a band with more than 1.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Meyer-Wagner highlighted Grewal Hall as a new stage for local artists to showcase their talents in an accessible way.

Grewal said he doesn’t expect competition with the Ovation, a planned 2,025-person concert and event venue scheduled to open in late 2024. Mayor Andy Schor has touted the location as a means of attracting national acts, while the operators of Grewal Hall anticipate smaller or more local artists.

What the venue brings to downtown

The venue, which was constructed in 1915 as the Knapp's department store, has had many uses. Most recently it was home to Blue Night Hookah Lounge and a nightclub before that, but has been vacant since 2018.

The completely rebuilt downtown storefront now features two levels of open-concept space that owners hope will attract acts and events to the Lansing area.

Standing capacity inside is 900 for musical performances and other shows. Seating ranges from 225 in a banquet arrangement to 400 in a theater orientation.

Meyer-Wagner said events may offer general admission, reserved seats or a mezzanine VIP experience. The hall will have a full bar, but will not serve food for public events.

The multi-purpose venue can serve as an event space, including for weddings, corporate and charity events, trade shows and more.

Meyer-Wagner said the hall has already booked several private events throughout the summer and more public events will be announced in the coming weeks.

“Our team has been working on this project for nearly two years, so to be in the home stretch of construction and so close to opening is very exciting,” Meyer-Wagner said in an email.

Benefiting downtown in other ways

Local business leaders said the venue will benefit other establishments in the area through increased foot traffic.

“Arts and entertainment are critical to the success of downtown, and Lansing has a void that needs to be filled in the 500 to 1,000 capacity space for concerts,” Meyer-Wagner said.

And, she pointed out, nearby restaurants, stores and hotels will see an economic impact from the space’s events.

Steve Japinga, senior vice president of the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the venue will assist Lansing in transitioning from an over-reliance on state workers to support local businesses. Grewal Hall will reinforce downtown as an “alive after five” destination that will draw visitors outside of regular work hours, he added.

“This will be great for all the different businesses that have been popping up in Washington Square, but really surrounding it,” he said. “Going there, you can head to the stadium district or Lansing Shuffle or whatever you want to do — there’s a ton of things to do and it’s super walkable.

Developers estimated in 2022 that the venue will bring an average of 50,000 people into Lansing annually and generate $12 million in annual economic activity. The initial proposal estimated the project would cost $400,000, but Meyer-Wagner declined to give an updated figure on the construction's final cost.

Meyer-Wagner, a Lansing native, said she and other stakeholders in the project were inspired to take on the project after seeing various acts bypass Lansing.

“We've spent decades watching entertainment dollars leave the community as people travel to Detroit and Grand Rapids for indoor shows,” she said. “It's long overdue for us to have a venue like this in town and we are weeks away from opening our doors.”

Contact Sheldon Krause at skrause@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @sheldonjkrause.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Grewal Hall opening in August with packed summer lineup