GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Construction is underway inside the Fifth Third Building, where the top seven floors are being converted into 140 apartments in what officials say is a creative way to add new housing in downtown Grand Rapids.

On Wednesday, workers were busy gutting the floors so they can be turned into a mix of one- and two-bedroom units with amenities that include an indoor pool, indoor pickleball court, and a race car simulator.

“What makes this project especially meaningful is it’s one of the first of its kind in Michigan,” said Sam Cummings, managing partner at CWD Real Estate Investment, the firm that owns the building and is leading the project.

The $50 million project is expected to be complete next year.

To mark the start of construction, CWD hosted a “sledgehammer ceremony” inside the 1960s-era urban renewal building Wednesday.

City and community leaders, after speaking about project’s impact on efforts to boost the downtown population, donned hard hats and took turns swinging a sledgehammer at a wall set to be torn down.

“What’s going to happen here is not just good for downtown,” said Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand. “The idea of downtown being a neighborhood means that there are going to be people here who are going to be maybe going to have a beer in Belknap Neighborhood. Maybe they’re going to be taking a bike into the Creston Neighborhood. Maybe they’ll be going to Eastown.”