CRC Grand Rapids Office To Change Address

It’s official — or it will be on August 1.

The familiar address for the Christian Reformed Church’s office in Grand Rapids, Mich. — 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE — will be changing to 1700 28th Street SE to better reflect how the building has been oriented for many years.

Ever since a major addition was done to the office in 1987, the actual entrance to the building has been located facing 28th Street SE, instead of Kalamazoo Avenue.

John Bolt, the CRC’s director of finance and administration, says the office will not retain its unique building zip code of 49560 after the change.

“In 1977 when we requested a building zip code, the goal was to expedite mail delivery to our location. Now a building zip code is an exception to process and actually slows down delivery. In addition, the unique zip code has an annual cost of $5,000 for which we no longer receive any real benefit,” he says.

The new zip code will be 49508-1407.

The face of the sign at the 28th street entrance to the office has currently been removed to be redone to include the new address.

Bolt says it is up to each agency or office to follow up with address change information to whomever sends them mail. Mail will only be forwarded for one year from implementation date (August 1, 2013).

Bolt says the move to the new address began more than a year ago when the CRC purchased vacant property east of the CRC office.

Before making any improvements to the land, the City of Grand Rapids required certain legal accommodations. As that happened, Bolt says, he thought the time was ripe for the change of address.

Bolt brought the request of changing the address before the CRC’s Ministry Leadership Team, which agreed to the change late last year.

The two streets in question vary in nature.

Kalamazoo Avenue is a fairly modest street, beginning in the inner-city of Grand Rapids and running for several miles south, passing the CRC office, neighborhoods and small businesses before dead-ending in the country.

On the other hand, 28th Street is a bustling, four-lane road stretching from the far southeastern suburbs to the southwestern suburbs and passing through a good portion of Grand Rapids along the way.