RegalTDP
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Posts posted by RegalTDP
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51 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:
I'm down in St Petersburg area right now and the number of new apartment/condo developments along traditional suburban retail corridors is astonishing. I mean, back home it's hard to think of who would want to live in an expensive apartment RIGHT on 28th Street, but these complexes down here are on much larger 6 and 8 lane commercial boulevards.
You see that in LA as well. Giant complexes are going up along the wide boulevards that criss-cross the San Fernando Valley, over what used to be retail corridors. The buildings go right up to the street with parking underground. It makes sense, brick & mortar retail isn't as viable as it used to be outside of a few really thriving areas, and the city needs housing more. Kinda the same situation in suburban GR? Properties along 28th Street waste so much space on big surface lots, long driveways, and landscaping; you could fit a lot of new buildings along that corridor and still have enough green space to make it livable. 44th Street too in some places too.
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Bumping this two-year-old thread to bring this article on how WFH trends will change work culture and what it means for downtowns: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/work-from-home-revolution/622880/ (FYI The Atlantic only gives you a few articles before there's a paywall)
It's interesting these trends are happening when we're having some high-profile offices being built in Downtown GR (Spectrum, Perrigo, Acrisure). But I wonder what it means for the office buildings already up. And even when Spectrum/Perrigo etc. are completed, they may not have all their employees working downtown at once, and that may dampen the positive effects for downtown retail. I know we've talked about this on other threads at times.
But that said, I've worked in LA for close to ten years now and can't really speak anymore to the work culture in GR. But here in LA, there are some companies are giving up their office space entirely and going fully remote. For me and many of the companies I work with, I'm definitely seeing hybrid emerge as the dominant model for a while. For us it feels like the five day work week is giving way to a 24/7 week with less emphasis on working within set hours. Anyone else have thoughts about GR?
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1 hour ago, Cookin_peacocks said:
Wahlburgers is always packed. I, personally, will never go I hope because I have some irrational hatred of Mark Wahlberg. No idea why.
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5 hours ago, walker said:
When I was searching around for the Wikipedia entry for the Trust Building the other day, I ran across this listing of all the National Register of Historic Places in Kent County. Some are pretty obscure including two separate small bridges over Plaster Creek (one of which was torn down and replaced and no one apparently cared.) You can click on any entry and bring up its history:
WIKIPEDIA: National Register of Historic Places listings in Kent County
I was really fascinated learning more about the Trust Building in your post on the other thread - I did not know it was one of the first steel-framed skyscrapers before. At the time it was built, it was the second tallest building in the state after the Hammond Building in Detroit. Since they tore down the Hammond Building in 1956, the Trust Building, as GR's oldest standing skyscraper, is actually older than Detroit's oldest standing skyscraper.
10 minutes ago, Cookin_peacocks said:What was the building right by 131 that looked old as F? It was just south of Fulton near the old gas station?
Are you talking about the old A&P warehouse that they tore down to make way for GVSU's new building?
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On 10/6/2021 at 5:01 PM, GR_Urbanist said:
Not gonna lie, that siteplan absolutely looks awful. It looks the be one of the most un-urban things that has been built downtown in some time.
I'm hostly looking at the report again, and still not believing this.
Are you talking about the ICCF plan or the Bethany expansion?
For the ICCF project, I kinda like the facade, how it fronts Division, and that access to parking is in the rear from Sheldon. And even with the greenspace it still leaves room for more on that block. I'm not seeing what's so bad about it.
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13 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:
There's also a huge (and cool) development proposed on Burton by Bethany Christian Services (wrong topic, I know). Looks like a lot of affordable housing (single family?) plus a big addition to their offices (if people are interested).
We brought that up on this thread here. Incredible to see neighbors opposing single family housing of comparable density in a single family housing neighborhood.
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Wow, what a traffic nightmare this will bring! You might even need to install a stop sign or two to control the chaos.
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I loved the intimacy of the old outdoor space, the way the neighboring buildings look down on you, and you felt like you were hanging out in someone's backyard. I hope whatever moves in there next keeps that ambiance.
The new location will feel completely different. Maybe not bad, but just different. You'll just have the freeway overlooking you. But interesting to see development on the other end of Bridge, maybe more will follow.
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Books & Mortar is moving across the street to 966 Cherry.: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkACZIrJzD/
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Found this article on the 2020 census interesting: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-30/why-are-some-booming-u-s-cities-losing-population?sref=2o0rZsF1 (Warning, Bloomberg allows a couple free articles before the paywall goes up)
TLDR, whereas it used to be commonly thought that a city's economy & population rise and fall together, this census is showing that the link is starting to fray.
QuoteInterestingly, the new Census data appear to show a third category of cities developing — metro areas that are booming economically without adding new residents. I reviewed data on population growth and per capita GDP growth for the 106 metro areas that had more than 500,000 people in 2010. By 2019, population growth for those 106 metros averaged 8.4%, while per capita GDP growth averaged 32.3%.
Metro areas such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boston and Denver all registered higher-than-average economic output. Some, including Seattle and Salt Lake City, also saw their populations grow strongly. New York, Los Angeles and several others saw no dramatic shifts in population.
Most surprisingly, a handful of Rust Belt metros — Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, among others — outpaced the average per capita GDP gains yet actually lost population...
For years, as they struggled to save all the factory jobs they could, these cities often overlooked their other assets. It’s only in the past couple decades that they have effectively emulated the likes of New York and Los Angeles, investing in knowledge sectors such as tech, finance, and “eds and meds” to match today’s economic landscape. That’s led to productivity gains even without adding more people.
I wonder if GR would fall in that last category. GR isn't losing people, but its low rate of population growth would seem to bely its economy. The metro area as a whole, much larger than city of GR, is definitely growing but seems to barely keep pace with its peers, and still losing ground to some Sun Belt cities. Speaking of which:
QuoteConversely, many of the most popular cities around the country appear to be growing without a commensurate increase in economic productivity. Several Sun Belt stars — Orlando, Lakeland, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Deltona/Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Cape Coral and North Port/Sarasota in Florida; Dallas and San Antonio in Texas; Las Vegas and Phoenix — saw average per capita GDP gains lower than the overall average for the 106 largest metros.
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2 hours ago, MJLO said:
The total inner ring which if combined would be city of 401,213 people in 140sq mi. To put this in perspective Birmingham Alabama has 200k people in 148 sq mi. From another perspective Boston MA has 675k people in 48sq mi so it's all relative.
And Detroit is 139 square miles! Interesting to compare GR's relative density to theirs.
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4 hours ago, arcturus said:
Kind of thought this would transition as the new Bridge St with Mitten/Long Road/Two Scotts anchoring. Give it time or is there some inherent disadvantage?
I did catch this. New office? https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9849012,-85.6785897,3a,75y,28.09h,96.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRcmfns_Wf1h1Zf3Z2JyFYg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
That's Tommy Brann's new building? I remember we talked about that on the West Side thread a while back... Haven't been up there in person , but at least the Streetview pic actually makes it look better than the renderings, which were awful.
I'm all for preserving old buildings but in this case I'm not sure very much could have been done with ones that used to be here. And if West Leonard is going to grow like Bridge, I would think it'll need some more mass fronting the street.
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1 hour ago, MJLO said:
Also Holland Township is more racially diverse and struggles with more crime issues than Holland City. That's another anomaly as it's rare or maybe even unheard of for a suburb to have those qualities over the anchor city. It would be an interesting study to see what the reason is for the upside down conditions between the two municipalities.
Reminds me of the Charleston vs. North Charleston relationship... Like Holland, Charleston has all the waterfront & historic property, higher ed institutions, while North Charleston is more industrial and stuck inland. That being said, whereas Holland has always been majority white, Charleston had a major gentrification shift that reversed the city's demographics from majority black to majority white, sending its lower income residents to the suburbs. It's left an even more stark disparity between the two cities.
Also how about Ann Arbor vs. Ypsilanti? I was on another forum (not UP) a few years ago and I saw a poster praising Ann Arbor as a bastion of diversity and culture... Another poster retorted, "All of Ann Arbor's diversity is in Ypsi, LOL."
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2 hours ago, WMrapids said:
In a similar vein, here’s an article about the top 50 cities in the US. Ann Arbor is the only city in Michigan listed while California, Florida and Texas have multiple.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/best-places-live-united-states-america/
This picture of "Atlanta, Georgia" (#42 on the list) didn't look right to me. Turns out it's a picture of this restaurant in Havana, Cuba.
Just an observation about how rigorously they compile these listicles.
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15 hours ago, Raildude's dad said:
I believe it's the other way. My daughter works for one of the biggest AE companies in the US. When she talks with some of her co-workers nationwide, they assume GR is near near Detroit. When they hear Michigan, they think Detroit. She says no we are 3 hrs west and about 3 hrs NE from Chicago.
As one who lives on the West Coast, I can attest to this. Many people have difficulty separating the rest of Michigan from Detroit. But keep in mind outside of Urban Planet forums most people don't really have a good sense of geography or find comparing cities as fascinating as we do.
That being said I don't think there's anything to read into here. GR's had its share of positive stories already so I don't think it's a big deal it missed one. There's a lot of cities poised to recover quickly so WSJ had a lot to choose from. They clearly intentionally wanted three areas in disparate regions, so only one would be representing the Midwest. I'm sure there's people from other mid-sized metros out West reading this and saying "Really, Provo?"
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I tried putting Buc-ee's in my old fashioned and it was terrible. But then again I prefer a drier gasoline.
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1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:
I thought we had a population thread going, but maybe not?
Here: https://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/topic/117687-population-growth/page/6/#comments
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22 hours ago, joeDowntown said:
I like the overall concept of the development. Nothing overly inspiring about the building design, but it’ll fit well and I really like the free space they added. Hoping the future liner building includes some mixed use opportunities.
Joe
+1. The building design is very "Medical Mile Chic" plunked straight from Michigan Street, but I like the way it's situated. Monroe will have a more fully developed streetwall facing the river... and with this many employees being added to the area I hope the potential for liner development is there.
LOL, what's with all the skyscraper silhouettes in the backgrounds of these renderings? It's like Belknap has been terraformed into Milwaukee.
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16 minutes ago, GreatLakesPrintShop said:
Sounds like there's quite the story behind the vacant Witmark.
The following is per reddit, and others seem to corroborate the story:
The guy who owns it got a divorce from his wife a long time ago. If he sells it she'll get half the money. He's been paying fines and making minimum repairs just to spite his ex-wife. It's a monument to pettiness and I respect that.
https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/buyers-interested-but-witmark-owner-wont-sell/
If that is true, this person is worse than Azzar, which is not something I thought I would ever say.
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OR it could be a tag by the notorious "Thornapple Whole Foods Boyz" that terrorize the Kentwood streets. Either seems likely, IMO.
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1 hour ago, Pattmost20 said:
I would not have guessed their metro was that big. You learn something new everyday...
It's a bunch of interconnected small towns that add up to a lot of people in the region. Their CSA includes Spartanburg and Clemson, and it's actually slightly larger than GR's CSA.
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6 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:
Has anyone been to a Wahlburgers? Is it that great or just kind of a gimicky restaurant?
Pretty good burger but not life-changing. Actually I don't think it's all that gimmicky... Other than a few references to movies on the walls, the ambiance is similar to other trendy fast casual joints. Personally I prefer Shake Shack or Five Guys, but YMMV. Will be a good addition for downtown. Hopefully it will endure longer than Bagger Dave’s
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On 3/10/2021 at 12:53 PM, GR8scott said:
Makes me wonder what happened to make it unnavigable?
Back to the historical question, I don't know the answer, but here are two things that were happening back then:
1) The steamboats of the era shut down because they went out of business, not because they couldn't navigate the river. They were made obsolete by interurban rail (yeah, we used to have that), which itself was made obsolete about twenty years later when cars and buses took over. If steamboats were still a viable business after 1910, they could have maintained the infrastructure to keep the river navigable, but they didn't.
2) Back then river was muddier & stinkier due to pollution & shallower due to the hydroelectric plants. You can look for historical photos on the web, but there were some moments captured back then of the river going through downtown as just a muddy riverbed, because all the water had been diverted to the plants. May have had something to do with it, or maybe not; the steamboats might have been far enough downstream from there.
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15 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:
Cool photos. They got their facts a bit wrong (Sixth Street bridge would be in the other direction. Has to be the Ann Street Bridge (or a bridge that is gone))?
Joe
Oh good catch. That's actually Leonard Street Bridge.
Population Growth
in Grand Rapids
Posted · Edited by RegalTDP
Some food for thought: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/us/census-undercounted-population.html
Just my own gut opinion, but I believe the city of GR actually does have 200,000+ people.