suydam

That's still a ways off. I hope this comes together for them, but clearly waiting another year to start means they've not yet got their ducks in a row.

Wow! What a fantastic portrayal of Grand Rapids. The only glaring problem I found was the colloquial titling of our biggest supermarket chain: "Meijer's" [sic]

I've been there 4 or 5 times. It's a mixed bag. Their chow mein called "Mr. Lawrence" was great. The Sezchuan Peanut Noodles were not as great. The hot-and-sour soupe was fantastic, the rangoons meh. I've tried it a few times though and they're getting better.

Veloise, Great sleuthing! I used to live in Oakland County and didn't recall any issues with those parks in the 1980s. Glad to hear they're still not problematic.

Actually, despite my distaste for man-made lakes, I disagree.... there aren't any running fox or forests in the developments you decry. Similarly we'd never see rolling pheasants (what are those, anyway?) or meadows. But placid lake will most definitely be a placid "lake" when it's finished. The name fits in this case. To go with your motif, they'd have called it something like "Windy Shores" or "Lighthouse Place"

I read that too... couldn't figure out if it was one house and the lake that were finished, or if there were more houses going in. Bad website, that's for sure.

Does that development actually exist (completed)? I know that's a sidebar to your post, but I was just wondering. THeir web page screams "my bright idea that never got funded."

All I'm saying is, every Bottom 10 list is probably filled with 10 cities that go "yeah, but the source is invalid." You still don't want to end up on a bottom-10 list. I find it hard to believe that we're any more upside down than metro-detroit, but then I did some thinking: From 2000-2005 our values went up. In the D, maybe they didn't go up (so they didn't go back down either). Either way, it's never fun to show up on those lists.

America's Worst 10 Housing Markets http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/109131/americas-most-underwater-housing-markets GR ranks #10 according to recent data from Zillow.com

As a non-GR-native, I'm not at all surprised. Division/Fulton is only a "main" intersection if you look at the map and/or know how our SE/NE/SW/NW addressing system works. IN terms of what's going on downtown, they faced the building toward the rest of downtown and where there's more foot traffic and "stuff" going on.

I think that was scrapped from the design. There is a nice section of what I assume is the pedestrian bridge sitting there in an alley, and they were building what appeared to be supports for it when I drove by during lunch today.

So Fronteir isn't really "coming" to GR? It's nothing more than a publicity stunt? Too bad.

My assumption, they expect to pull from Lansing, maybe even Detroit, definitely Kalamazoo, Traverse City, Benton Harbor, etc. I think they're saying lots of car rentals to get people home.

I only skimmed it, but saw no mention of "People talking about Grand Rapids" I did see the St. Francis De Sales church in MKG, which is still part of West Michigan. I suppose that counts. Nice article. Thanks for posting.

I don't think they're out of line. The store was pretty clear when they opened that 3 years was their experiment. I'm sure we're all hoping they stay, but I think it's a very fair question to ask "now that 3 years is almost up, how are you doing?"

I will take some amount of pleasure driving past Pizza Hut on my way to Brick Road Pizza.

You're mixing up Pasties, the UP "delicacy" with Burritos. But I got a chuckle out of the story.

All this time, I thought his name was #sorryoungkim

Nor can we blame them. If it's 10 years before Benner finishes his "lifestyle center" those that choose to face inward, toward an undeveloped lifestyle center will struggle to survive.

Just to clarify... Rogers High School, and Wyoming Park High School are two different places. Unless I'm mistaken (which is always possible), there's no "Rogers Park High"

I agree with Slater... it's not completely ignored. Mixology has great plush seating out there, with heaters, overlooking the river. It's nice. I would say I've taken more unintentional pictures of the river from within the VA Museum than anywhere else. That said, there's clearly tons of potential... we haven't even begun to tap it yet.

It's a tenuous balance though.... as much as I love the Ann Arbor Art Fair, ArtPrize aims to be something much higher. I think he vibe at the BOB's parking lot/festival grounds was decidedly "art fair" and not "art exhibit." In my opinion, what sets ArtPrize ahead was the decided lack of tents selling crafts. I would not at all wish for it to head in that direction.

Agree... one of the most prominent Whole Foods in metro-Detroit is the one at Orchard Lake Rd. and 14 Mile Rd. in West Bloomfield Township. Suburban shoppers rule the day for a chain like that.

I appreciate what Project Propegate is doing at 2EF but I would be against a "fake" green wall as a permanent facade for a building. Even the Catholic Central parking garage (which I had the pleasure of checking out at the ArtPrize top-10 announcement) would be better than that (in my opinion). I'm remaining positive about how it'll pan out with the new UICA. Question (about the UICA): Does anyone know what their new square footage will be for gallery space as compared to their existing facility? I read today that they have had 55,000 visitors during ArtPrize. A typical year (before AP) was only 50,000 visitors.... so clearly ArtPrize has had a great net effect on their attendance for 2009.

GRDadof3 got my joke which was simple: it's called "ArtPrize" It might be a giant art prize that is somewhat like a fair but it's most certainly not "...called The Giant Art Prize Fair" (in other words, she titled it that, she wasn't describing it with adjectives, she was reciting the event title as she understood it). At any rate, I was just laughing and enjoying the joke. No hard feelings on my part. If the merch. shop in the UICA and Old Federal Building would sell t-shirts that said "The Giant Art Prize Fair" I would totally buy one. Alas, all their stuff just says "ArtPrize."