From above a riverbank to far beneath it, the Acrisure Amphitheater project poses intriguing challenges. Crews are reinforcing a site shaped by decades of buried debris from bygone eras and erecting a sweeping, football field–size steel canopy that will protect crowds gathering for concerts and other events along the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Mich. “Our geotechnical work was extremely challenging,” says Scott Veine, project executive with Pioneer Construction, which is partnering with another Michigan-based company, Barton Malow, to construct the 12,000-seat structure, slated for completion in May. “We were building on a site that’s been developed and redeveloped since the turn of the [20th] century, and every layer of that history was still down there,” Veine says. The amphitheater topped out in March 2025. Photo courtesy of Barton Malow The 10-acre site along Market Avenue was once an island in the Grand River.…