metrogrkid

Can you feel your teeth itching now too? We come so far and then we're reminded of how far we still have to go.

That gets counted as a WIN. Flat out and that's what it is.

When folk STILL living in the mid-20th Century write opinions in "Best Communities To Live In" and it makes my TEETH ITCH with maximum irritation (see screen clip from niche.com <places-to-live/east-grand-rapids-kent-mi>)

Thanks for that answer on the continued lighting void, GRDad. Now how about the other part of my query (i.e. - "....is the new three lanes finally on both sides and not just on one....). It would indeed certainly change the impression of westbound freeway users entering Metro GR from the east if the six-lane setup was uniformly actually six lanes from Fuller to the Paul Henry (M6) interchange with I-96. This inquiring mind wants to know. Until then . . . .

So GRDad, any word regarding if this Fuller - to - I-96/E. Beltline interchange stretch is still a dark void at night or is there any evident work on jersey wall/median lighting? Also: even though GR is the smallest of America's 52 "Big Cities" (i.e. - 200,000-ish central city plus surrounding suburbs and exurbs equaling over 1 million residents together), I am hoping that we're beginning to look the part in this section with the new three lanes being on both sides and not just on one. Yes? No? Thanks in advance. Metrogrkid

Apologies. POOF! It is gone.

. . . .

More understated words were never spoken. Certain things about GR's nature can make one's teeth itch but hey, we're still #52 metro in America. yay. woo hoo. It was the concept that was put online and then suddenly yanked when it started creating buzz; it was just prior to the debut of the Monroe/Market Streetrail concept (whenever that was). I can't remember the firm though, dangit. Bad memory sucks big.

LET THE SCREAM BEGIN: The likelihood of me locating that is VERY low....especially since it was on a laptop that failed years ago? However, I can describe its basic setup from memory: the footprint basically took up the whole Fulton/Market site (minus the riverfront area for a Riverwalk extension) with a variable height 5- to 10-story podium building (encasing/hiding a central multi-hundreds of spaces parking ramp), a 52-story hotel/office tower at the Fulton/Market corner (facing Fulton & Plaza Towers), a 42-story hotel/housing tower also at Fulton/Market corner (facing Market), a major retail atrium below both towers (basically providing pass-through/replacement space for current skywalk access node). There it is (was) to the best of my memory.

SAY THAT! The Fulton/Market lot arguably has some of the greatest development potential in the entirety of Greater Downtown (especially with its ready-to-plug-in skywalk connection node). That double high-rise/mixed-use podium building concept from back in the day was thinking in the right direction.

The haterade and ever-present snark are strong in this one . . . .

I'm weird too; let's consider prodding our leaders to do that quickly but on GR's different-scale riverfront as planned. Imagine all future dense/vertical development restricted to the natural bowl of the Grand River Valley between Ann Street on the north, Burton Street on the south, Lafayette on the east and Seward on the west. A contained compact ribbon of urban instigated by the 201 Market/Flaherty-Collins setup:

GR with your 200,000+ city and 1.3 million+ metro: below behold the City of Balneário Camboriú Brazil - the posterchild example of an impressive downtown skyline NOT being dictated by population density (City: 124,000+ / Metro: 390,000+) . . . . its population smallness is not diminishing its attainment of GRANDness; just saying . . . .

Could all the City slow-dragging/hand-wringing about finding a spot to relocate all the ugly Public Works facilities on Market Street be alleviated with the Butterworth dump site? I mean the 201 Market/Flaherty & Collins proposal coupled with its nearby Studio Park sister would be a definitive WOW for South Downtown; heck all the current ugliness would seem to be ideal for maximizing a dump that no one will miss. Egad. Tic tic tic . . . .

The notion of a few additional floors would certainly be nice but I believe the reason for such a relatively "tall" crane is a simple one. Even with the low-rise nature of the upcoming DeVos HQ, the crane must need to be the height it is to clear the tightly adjacent Fifth Third Center roof/rooftop equipment line.