Rooted in Kalamazoo
Be the Host of Kalamazoo.
Since 1999 our mission has been clear: empower each other to ignite a story through memorable experiences in Kalamazoo. We don’t just serve this community. We are this community.
Volunteer partnerships
Eight paid hours, every employee, every year.
Every GHG team member earns eight paid hours annually to volunteer with the Kalamazoo organizations they care about. Across the group that adds up to more than 950 hours a year, given as paid time on the clock rather than a donation written on the company’s behalf.
Join the team
Groundbreaking, September 2025Downtown impact
When downtown does well, we do well.
Nearly every GHG brand sits within a few blocks of the Kalamazoo Mall. That concentration is deliberate. We’ve invested in this specific downtown for twenty-five years, and the Kalamazoo Event Center is the largest bet we’ve made on it yet.
What we’re buildingEconomic impact
What this investment means to our region.
The Kalamazoo Event Center is a private investment, not a millage and not a new tax, going into the ground two blocks from the Kalamazoo Mall. These are the projections for what it returns to Kalamazoo and the region around it each year once it opens.
- $50MAnnual economic impact
Estimated, every year the building operates, and in a downtown this compact, most of it is spent within a few blocks of the door.
- 225Events a year
More than four a week, year-round: concerts, college and professional sport, expos, and commencements.
- 725,000Annual visitors
Roughly 3,200 people a night across those 225 events, arriving downtown and leaving on foot.
- 800Jobs created
New full-time, part-time, and seasonal roles across operations, food and beverage, and guest services.
Hospitality & tourism
Where a number like that lands.
Fifty million dollars stays abstract until you follow the people carrying it. The Event Center anticipates 725,000 visits a year, and downtown Kalamazoo is small enough that nearly all of those visits continue on foot, into restaurants, hotel lobbies, and shops that are already here.
That is the part of the project GHG is built for. We run the hotel across the street, the restaurants around it, and the catering inside the building.
What we’re building- 725,000 visits a year. Most arriving for an evening and spending it inside a few downtown blocks.
- Booked all year, not just in season. Western Michigan University hockey, WMU men’s and women’s basketball, and the Kalamazoo Wings all play here from fall through spring, so the building fills on a steady schedule instead of on a handful of big weekends.
- Room nights that stay downtown. The Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites is the official hotel of the Event Center, so touring crews and visiting teams sleep two blocks from the arena rather than out by the interstate.
- Midweek daytime trade. Thirty thousand square feet of flat floor books expos, trade shows, and commencements, filling exactly the hours downtown restaurants and hotels are quietest.
- Acts that currently drive past. Eight thousand seats for concerts and 6,500 for sport put Kalamazoo in a touring bracket it has not been able to bid on.
- Parking built alongside it. A new downtown parking structure is part of the project, not a problem left for afterwards.
Economic impact, visitor, and job figures are Greenleaf Hospitality Group projections for the Kalamazoo Event Center. Event count, seating, tenant, and facility details are from GHG’s groundbreaking release of September 30, 2025. The Event Center opens in fall 2027.
Be part of Kalamazoo’s story.
When you join GHG you’re not just taking a job. You’re joining the fabric of this community.