A self-cleaning restroom building open year-round is coming to Heartside Park in Grand Rapids. Pictured, the Heartside Park sign and a homeless encampment that was cleared in December 2020. (MLive file photo)Cory Morse | MLive.com

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A public restroom building that talks, detects humans and cleans itself is coming to Heartside Park in downtown Grand Rapids.

But beyond the new technology, the bathroom facility also offers something that has long been lacking at the park at 301 Ionia Ave. SW: year-round usage.

Currently, the bathroom building at Heartside Park closes each year sometime around October or November and reopens again in April. Park officials say it wasn’t built to be opened during the winter.

It’s a schedule that doesn’t match the year-round usage of the park. The Heartside neighborhood is home to several shelters and missions, and the park is often a congregating space for people who are experiencing homelessness.

“I think it’s been made pretty clear: there’s year-round use of the park and of the neighborhood and so having a restroom facility there is just, it’s needed by the population in that area, and especially users of the park,” said Joe Sulak, the city’s parks superintendent.

Sulak said the new bathroom is estimated to be open for public use in fall 2022. In addition to self-cleaning capabilities, the toilets also have an automated time limit of about 15 minutes, at which time the door will unlock, he said. New Zeeland-based Exeloo manufactures the restrooms.

The autowash system sanitizes the toilet and floor with sprayer jets at certain times of the day, according to the company. During that cleaning period, the door is automatically locked to prevent entry and detection systems ensure people aren’t still within the toilet cubicle. The cleaning spray empties into a floor drain.

The self-cleaning capabilities are meant to supplement manual cleanings.

Most of the restroom functions rely on detection, from waiving a hand to dispense toilet paper to touchless handwashing, soaping and drying capabilities, according to Exeloo. People can also manually retrieve toilet paper.

Following a person locking the bathroom door, a voice message will notify the person that they only have a set amount of time to use the restroom. According to Sulak, that’ll be about 15 minutes.

Sulak didn’t immediately know the cost of the restroom building, as the project lead is off this week. However, the cost is wrapped into a larger construction project planned for Heartside and Pekich parks.

Grand Rapids city commissioners Tuesday morning, Feb. 22, gave initial approval to spending up to $993,000 on improvements to those two parks, including the self-cleaning restroom at Heartside Park. Full approval by the commission is expected Tuesday evening via a sweeping consent agenda vote.

The dollars will come from the city’s Parks Millage Fund.

At Heartside Park, the project includes demolishing the current restroom building and replacing it with the new, self-cleaning one nearer to Ionia Avenue.

The Heartside Park project also includes replacing the current basketball court and adding new drinking fountains, sidewalks, landscaping and furnishing. Construction is slated to start summer 2022.

At the smaller Pekich Park, located at 2 Cherry St. SW, plans call for more flexible space there, including new custom bench seating.

The need for a winterized bathroom at Heartside Park was one of the recommendations outlined in the Heartside Quality of Life study, released in 2019.

The study also outlined a lack of public restrooms in the area. In 2020, the city and its partners installed a public restroom at the intersection of South Division Avenue and Weston Street SW.

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