elcelc

Yeah, I thought Michigan and Eastern was ugly. But then came Michigan and Union. A couple of dogs there.

Regarding any retail at Klingman (or Baker) lofts, I was told there is 'street' parking only. In reality, that's the dirt lot. Sorry, but when customer experience includes, "I couldn't park anywhere", you're gonna have a bad time.

That's awesome (was awesome). Thanks.

Randomly Google driving on Leonard at Alpine and saw this. Is that still there? I bet there's some history to this one. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9852188,-85.6872634,3a,75y,24.89h,88.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skYQd7fyoFzDKygFuQ5SHdg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DkYQd7fyoFzDKygFuQ5SHdg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D77.817505%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

I keep forgetting about this one. I'm assuming the parking will be public, anyone know for certain?

Since this place seems less hostile, hyperbolic and knee-jerky than every other site on the entire internet, I'll throw my 2 cents here. Original Propaganda owner: Kudos to your concept and product and for taking a chance on a location in need of some TLC. I wish them luck and hope their reputation is not damaged by what others had done. New owner/building owner: Seems like your landlording skills translated to your donuting skills as expected. Now those residing nearest to you have an even bigger target to piss on and future renters know who to avoid doing business with. Unquestionably a step backwards for the area as a whole. Internet commenters: While there are many many aspects to running a business not mentioned in the infamous FB post, no business wants their customer experience to include, "almost stepped in people poop." From what I've read now, it sounds like a combination of things led to the downfall. I'm curious how many of these defenders of the homeless actually help the homeless?

Just for kicks, I sat in on the WestSide meeting at Rockford the other night. I didn't think to take pictures (doh!) but the 3D rendering really showed off the double set back along Bridge. From the street, only the lower level is front and center with 2-4 being set back 20' and the 5th back another 20', similar treatment along the other 3 sides too. Much less menacing than the hulking Michigan & Eastern wall of ugly. It's a good compromise to the zoning change here as it will be 5 story but not look like 5 story. A lot of the presentation was from ICCF explaining the need for a mix of affordable housing for all income levels in the area. Only a brief mention of a "grocery store" was made. Doesn't Meijer have their own A/E or is that no longer the case?

Well that sucks. I wasn't a frequent visitor there but I did get approached once. I just write it off as life. That's a pretty bold statement for Propaganda to put out there and will probably get some attention.

Yup. Sway is out. Monks are in. Haven't been to the TC one, so I'm excited. Made it over the weekend and also like Founders, it was crammed and loud. What I did try was good but I'll check back after the initial hoopla wears off.

It's a C-shaped layout with the parking deck concealed in the center. That's very very recent info but all I've seen so far.

FYI, I'm involved with High Five so feel free to message me if you don't clog up the forum. This place keeps self-promotion pretty low key so I'll respect that. Anyway, I was hoping the article posted above would have been corrected by now, I guess not. A number of suitable locations have been looked at but nothing finalized. And jdkacz is absolutely right, a brewery success is largely due to location economics. The radius of your majority customer base is somewhat small, we're trying to make it count!

I'll make sure the final location gets posted here

Good article but incorrect headline. The only location commitment is to the city of GR, not the West Side specifically.

Saw on Facebook The Sovengard head chef is scheduled for open heart surgery today. Sounds like a sudden, unexpected turn. I think they were planning on opening in March so this is not good timing for the restaurant. Is there ever a good time for medical drama? In the bigger picture, obviously not. But this is just a restaurant forum topic. I hope the surgery goes well.

It even has a Wikipedia page... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Fables

I understand 800 Bond is eligible for the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program which I only have Google knowledge of. I though I saw $1.25M somewhere sometime. That made me wonder if there was more to it than location location location. You're right, no parking, no elevator... Cool little oddity though.

Any dirt on 800 Bond? Cool little spot that's been up for sale for a while and seems like its going to get dwarfed soon. I wonder if it's stuck in a "historical preservation" quagmire. Not in a bad way (put down your pitchforks!), but a time consuming way.

I wonder what this means for their yet to be built Phase II expansion on Grandville. It's basically a partial mirror of what they just completed, with another 19,500 sq ft of production/packaging.

Hmmm. That might explain why I don't know who's involved with Sway. Because I really don't know. GRBC and City Built are in 616, what's one more? I hadn't seen the 7 Monks name pop up yet.

That was pretty hot about a year ago but it fell through. Maybe they're still poking around.

Elk expansion confirmed. Two locations. http://mibiz.com/item/23256-elk-brewing-of-grand-rapids-plans-second-location-in-comstock-park

High Five and Speciation are tbd. Sway is going in to Michigan & Eastern. Blue Sky is the one in Cascade on 28th.

Yup, I counted that one. It's quite possible I'm missing some though. Ones I know of in various stages of progress: Atwater Blue Sky (dba) City Built Creston Greyline Brewing High Five Co-op Brewery New Holland Red Belly Speciation Sway

Nice sleuthing. So that makes ten breweries in planning that I know of, one meadery, one new cidery and one relocating cidery.

SW. Right next to Birch Lodge