Ada Township's Planning Commission has signed off on the first phase of a sprawling private golf club tied to the DeVos family, clearing the way for construction of an 18-hole course and a nearly 15,000-square-foot maintenance building on land once mined for gravel. The approval, granted Oct. 15, does not yet include the project's planned clubhouse, which still needs its own review.
The development, known as Ada Golf Club, is described as a more than 390-acre private golf club being developed by Continuum Ventures, the family office of Doug and Maria DeVos, according to MLive. Crain's Grand Rapids Business, meanwhile, puts the figure at 390 acres along the east side of Pettis Avenue — the two outlets differing slightly on whether the site exceeds that mark. Either way, the course is planned northwest of the intersection of Pettis and Egypt Valley avenues, on property that was previously used for gravel mining, the report notes.
Ada GC LLC, which owns the golf course properties, is affiliated with RDV Corporation, the DeVos family office, while Continuum Ventures is providing oversight and project management for the build. The planning commission approved plans for the 18-hole golf course and a maintenance facility on Oct. 15, but that vote applies only to those two pieces of the project — not the clubhouse Continuum Ventures intends to build on the property, which will require its own site plan and another round of commission review.
Why the Course Needs Years Before Anyone Plays a Round
Because large portions of the property were previously surface-mined, the course soils will need to be prepared and planted, then given multiple growing seasons before the course is playable, the same report states. That timeline helps explain why the project's own documents point to a late 2028 or 2029 opening rather than anything sooner — golf greens built atop a former gravel pit don't mature overnight.
Work to establish the course actually began over the summer, with limited earthwork and brush clearance already underway, according to WOOD TV. The station reported that the project's site plan narrative describes a course intended to move through the property's natural meadows, tree lines, low areas, and subtle contours with as little intervention as necessary.
A Maintenance Building Built to Stay Out of Sight
The approved maintenance building will rise at 1100 Pettis Ave. NE, covering 14,847 square feet — sizable enough to house offices and storage space, plus a 44-space parking lot. Accessory structures are expected to handle cart washing along with chemical, fuel and material storage, the outlet's report notes.
To keep that industrial-scale building from dominating the streetscape, the project includes berms along Pettis Avenue, some of which will rise more than 10 feet tall specifically to screen the maintenance facility from the road. The plans describe the overall golf course approach as low-impact, designed to minimize effects on adjacent properties and natural features.
What's Still Coming — And When
The clubhouse itself remains in an earlier stage. Preliminary plans call for practice facilities, limited supporting amenities, and what's described as a small restaurant, though none of that has cleared township review yet. A site plan for the clubhouse is expected to be submitted to Ada Township next year, setting up a second round of scrutiny before that piece of the project can move forward.
For now, the approved scope covers just the course and its maintenance operation — a first step in a project that, by its own soil-and-seasons timeline, won't be ready for golfers until at least 2028.
