Tribally owned professional services firm expands to Grand Rapids with new office

Tribally owned professional services firm expands to Grand Rapids with new office

Tribally owned Bodwé Professional Services Group is expanding its footprint with a new office in Grand Rapids’ Creston neighborhood to serve as a regional hub for the firm’s national clients.

Dowagiac-based Bodwé — part of Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi — has opened a new office at 385 Leonard St. NE in Suite 201. The multi-tenant building is owned by Sun Title Agency LLC, which also is in the process of building a 181-unit housing project at the property.

The firm is currently using the approximately 1,000-square-foot office as the build-out finishes up, said Karl Kowalske, president of Bodwé’s building services branch. Seven or eight employees will work from the space, he said.

“We have a national client base,” Kowalske said. “We work coast to coast across the country, and Grand Rapids continues to be a good hub for talent and ease of travel in and out of the airport.”

Being in Grand Rapids made sense from a talent perspective, and the new location opens up Bodwé to a larger market, Kowalske said. The firm currently has employees who live in Grand Rapids, making the investment an opportunity to support its existing team, Kowalske said.

“A lot of folks today are either remote or hybrid and tend to drive either to Battle Creek or Kalamazoo, so this will establish a little bit less of a commute for them,” Kowalske said.

Honor Construction Inc., which relocated to the building last year, is doing Bodwé’s office build-out.

“We are excited to open our doors in Grand Rapids and become a more integral part of this community,” said Ryan Odell, vice president of operations at Bodwé. “The new office offers a dynamic, collaborative workspace that will help nurture creativity and innovation among staff while providing clients with tailor-made solutions to their challenges and projects.”

The new office was backed by a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s (MEDC) Tribal Business Development Program, which has previously supported Bodwé’s growth in Michigan, Kowalske said.

“We are happy to support Bodwé Group’s expansion to Grand Rapids through our Tribal Business Development Program,” Tom Durkee, project manager for tribal business development at the MEDC, said in a statement. “The MEDC remains committed to executing the Make it in Michigan economic development strategy, including fostering sustainable tribal economies and building strong state-tribal relationships that extend well beyond gaming.”

Bodwé is headquartered in Dowagiac. Its family of companies includes Seven Generations Architecture & Engineering, which has offices in Kalamazoo and San Antonio, Texas; Kalamazoo-based Steelhead Engineering Co.; WBK Engineering, which has offices in St. Charles, Ill. and Battle Creek; and Tulsa, Okla.-based Blue Star Integrative Studio.

The collection of engineering and design firms rebranded from Seven Generations Group to Bodwé in 2021.

In recent months, Bodwé has branched out through its involvement in a strategic initiative that identified overseas logistics as an untapped sector that has lacked tribal business involvement. That led to a joint venture with Pennsylvania-based KVG and a seat on a 10-year, $225 million defense logistics contract through the Naval Supply Systems Command, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reported.

“This is not really a place that other tribal organizations are engaged in yet, so it is unique and significant for a tribal organization to be positioned in this key aid and support work,” Bodwé COO Jeremy Berg said earlier this year.

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