Floyd Z

I know the city was in *cough* negotiations with one of the two however that was over a year ago.....

WOW! looks awesome!

Why not build something that incorporates parking into the building? I think GVSU is being greedy

I think it looks pretty nice, but reminds me of the Microsoft logo.

Is the Children's hospital rising out of the ground yet?

I think that area would be perfect for some brownstones or a 5-7 story apartment complex, but I also don't like the fact they are tearing down the nicest houses on the street.

This is a really exciting project! I hope it all goes through as planned and they don't try to scale it down any. Will this be as tall as Bridgewater Place/JW? Finally a high-rise away from the river. The potential for the area is fantastic. I also hope that something will be done with the sw corner of Market and Fulton. Could this also be why Secchia was buying up land?

I love how the blue of the Marriot adds to downtown as oppose to the typical orangish/yellow glow. We need more variety downtown

It would be cool if they put some nice high density residental right near there for employees. You could park and ride to work, minus the parking part. However, it's probably not all that likely with all the industrial nearby.

City OKs revised plan, buys parking spots "...the city commissioners OK'd a revised plan from developer Sam Cummings who wants the city to buy 149 parking spots out of the 260 he'll put there as part of the complex he's building." A short story on woodtv.com: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7892584 Not really sure what this sentence means: "First Ward commissioner James Jendrasiak questioned the parking purchase, noting the city decided not to rebuild parking spots."

Is there signage facing the highway?

Just saw Grand Rapids made the national news.... The city commision bat scare was featured on Inside Edition. We're movin on up! We're among the likes of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton!!!!

From RGM: "$500K Green Grand Rapids targets the riverfront, a landfill, and other public space. Improving the city

These people sound a little loopey. This kind of sounds like Y2K.

Are they going to cut into the hills on either side from the Grand to Fuller and put concrete walls in like how it is on the Westbound side by diamond? I noticed they cut into the hill a little bit when they did the college westbound offramp. It seems like they would have to so they could have enough room for the additional lane.

I was also thinking that they might as well expand this so it will be easier to add a 4th lane instead of coming back 20 years later and doing it all over again. I also don't believe increase in lanes increases congestion. If there were 8 lanes in each direction would this strech still be congested? If there was 1 would it be less congested? I think highways in general see an increase in traffic over time, so they are expanded, not the other way around. Maybe I'm wrong.

So unless I have my corners mixed up, this thing is offically dead?

Rapidgrowthmedia is reporting that groundbreaking (or rather re-groundbreaking) on the Secchia Center will begin in April. The design: "Designers created the 180,000-square-foot facility with hundreds of classroom configurations to accommodate intimate study areas for the 350 students. The facility also includes several lecture auditoriums. Indoor-outdoor spaces include a main floor terrace (which is six stories up) on the building's southeast side overlooking the city, and a four-story glass atrium on the west side overlooking the Grand River." I'm excited to see this thing rise and the influx of 350 students + Professors. I'm kind of suprised no student housing has been proposed East of this development. Full Article: http://rapidgrowthmedia.com/developmentnews/Secchia0124.aspx

I think that rendering looks good. The Beknap area would be perfect for high density housing.

How's the children's hospital looking?

What were the other plans that didn't win?

I agree this new design sucks. Why not put a tower on each side or put the parking completly underground? It seems like the market could support more apartments. Division needs more height.

I know this was discussed briefly about a year ago, but in regards to those commuting to and from Allendale, I think it would be awesome if M6 were extended from Hudsonville (where it ends currently) to Coopersville and have it cut through Allendale or the area between Allendale and GVSU. There are no highways close to GVSU and with that area expanding I think it would be a great service to the Grand Rapids/Grand Haven/Holland area. From what I recollect this would be similar to the 31 Bypass (BTW what ever happened to those plans?) except further east. I know a lot of you are anti-car/highways, but this seems like it is necessary (LMD is always a mess).

^I love that shot right there, the area looks so dense. I'm excited to see that shot it 2 or 3 years with the medical school and childrens hospital. Does anyone have a shot of that before all the development?

Wow! I like all the glass on the Fulton side. This building would be unique for the area, yet fit in nicely with the exisisting buildings. Downtown needs more apartments as opposed to condos. It would be cooler if it was taller, but I still like it. Is the UICA still on board with this project? Will there be retail as well?