Sparty97

I do love Stella's stuffed burgers ( the Queso Jalapeno burger is the best burger on the planet..). I wouldn't complain if there was another location not in downtown GR. Not sure if the style fits the burbs but maybe someplace like East Town or East Grand Rapids, etc.

I wonder if this is part of a bigger strategy of expanding Hop Cat or even possibly selling it to another group. At one point in time, I had heard that they were growing Hop Cat with the plan of selling the franchise. Then they would focus on franchising Stella's. By the way, the Hop Cat at Knapp's Corner is still crazy busy. The last 3 times we have tried to eat there (midweek evenings), the wait was too long (45-60 minutes for a table) and we have gone to other restaurants instead. They fill up their entire parking lot and then half of the old Chili's parking lot. The Hop Cat name brand is very strong in West Michigan.

It looks like the table shows calendar years. So part of the decline is due to a partial year (2018) vs. a whole year (2017). Maybe there will be a holiday rush that gets it closer to 2017?

I guess it makes sense that 8 of the 9 theaters are rather small (45 to 85 seats). They probably need to balance having variety with a smaller population of moviegoers.

The perfect scenario would also include a Sparrow (Lansing's version of Spectrum) and Spectrum merger. MSU already has strong partnerships with both hospital systems. A MSU/Spectrum/Sparrow rebrand as Michigan State University Health System would be a powerful entity.

Thanks elcelc. I had to do some Googling to find out about the CSX rail lines in the area. I found this website with an interactive map. https://www.csx.com/index.cfm/customers/maps/csx-system-map/ Good luck! I'll be curious to see what can be arranged for that route and it a partnership with CSX down the road might light up some more of their lines (including Ada, Lowell, Saranac, Sparta, etc.)

I have 2 or 3 alternate routes that I use instead of EBL during the rush hours (including Grand River Drive, Carl, Crahen, etc.) depending on what Waze is seeing on the freeway. There are times that it takes 20+ minutes to get from Knapp Street to the 96 ramps. Also, I wish they would have just gone 4 lanes on Knapp and get it out of the way. It is probably not required yet with the amount of traffic but it keeps getting busier and busier every year. I know that the bridge over the Grand River is just 2 lanes, but I've already seen people using the turn lane as a passing lane dozens of time. I expect the amount of development East of Pettis is going to grow substantially in the next 5-10 years and Knapp is the only bridge over the river for miles.

I have a full sized SUV and I feel like I'm going to lose a mirror to a mailbox, opposing vehicles or the orange cones every time I drive down Knapp. I saw that some of the major paving is happening today and tomorrow.

Wow, had not heard that. That is a prime piece of real estate and could make for a really nice park.

No inside information, but I had heard that things were delayed for Plainfield due to additional costs with the new Ada location. I didn't get the impression that it was canceled but rather delayed.

Sounds eerily similar to what Gravel Bottom has proposed with opening a second location on Plainfield. 1. Both have really nice smaller places in high rent locations. 2. Both want to open a second location in a large warehouse/strip mall location to expand production.

I follow Amazon news a little bit but I'm not 100% certain of the long-term plans for distribution centers like this. Is this something that could enable "1 hour" prime deliveries for certain items? Is this something that could enable grocery deliveries? Is this part of their plan to open up 3000 AmazonGo stores by 2021? - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-19/amazon-is-said-to-plan-up-to-3-000-cashierless-stores-by-2021 Any chance that they would use this distribution center for a future Whole Foods?? (wishful thinking...)

They are a good store for quick stops. They are not going to compete directly with Meijer or Costco for stocking up the pantry but it is great for grabbing a 6 pack, something to throw on the grill or a gallon of milk on the way home. I could see that concept work well for people out at their cottages on Spring Lake in the summer.

200! According to their event on Facebook: "The first 200 people in line when HopCat – Knapp’s Corner opens will get a card good for a free order of Crack Fries every week for a year." I'm not sure that I will get there early enough to get those... BUT they also have "FREE orders of Crack Fries all day." That I will almost certainly take advantage of.

I saw that there were people out on the patio last night. I think it was Friends and Family night last night and then some sort of VIP thing tonight. They will open to the public at 11 AM Saturday morning (I think Free Crack Fries all day...)

I live out that way, so I was personally hoping for more. I get the idea that being near the corner of 28th and the EBL would be more attractive for brands that will only have one location. Having an REI in town means that I will probably start to shop online there (knowing I have a place to return it) but if it had been out at Knapp's Corner, I probably would have made a weekly stop there...

Thanks Organ. Back to being discouraged. LOL. :-)

I've been pretty discouraged about the parking situation in GR for a while and I've been trying to understand the decisions being made. I recently got thinking more about the new Spectrum parking structure. Will Spectrum be moving ALL their downtown parking to that structure? Specifically, will they be moving people out of the City of GR parking ramps and consolidating into their own ramps? I remember when they moved many of their IT/developers downtown and it took a huge number of spots. If they relinquish all their GR ramp monthly parking spots, do we all of a sudden see some breathing room in available spots and people can get the monthly parking passes they need??

With the change in glass at the top, what exactly is in those top floors? Is it just Cygnus or are their hotel rooms in the top section of the tower?? I do imagine this will greatly upgrade the lighting and view from Cygnus.

I'm guessing Food... Whole Food(s)? Gordon Food (Service)? Spartan Food? Target Food? Amazon Food (Prime - 1-hour delivery??)

Sounds like "The Docks" in Muskegon is running into some issues with the current people living in that area. https://www.woodtv.com/news/muskegon-county/dunes-residents-oppose-future-of-muskegon-development/1373516317

Seriously, I am not sure why they even switched. I'm assuming it is cheaper. I really hope it wasn't because they could get their own MOTU skin on the app... Or that they hoped that they could raise additional revenue because nobody that visits the city will have the app and they will issue more tickets...

Just looking at Motu vs. Park Mobile. Unless someone can point out how this is a better experience, it seems like this is a way to squeeze people for more $$ and provides another negative experience with parking in the city of Grand Rapids. You have to preselect a time period (1 hour, 2 hours, etc.) and there is no way to stop the session before the selected time period. You are on the hook for that amount of time (even if you find out 5 minutes later that you aren't staying...). At least with Park Mobile, you only paid for the time you were parked there and you didn't have to go through the process of extending. Which brings me to the other negative, if you think you are only going to be parked there for 30 minutes and forget to extend, you can get a ticket. With Park Mobile, you just started and the time ran until you stopped it (no ticket).

What is the benefit of doing the white boxed version of the Passport Parking app? I would rather have one mobile app that could work in multiple cities. From the initial blush, they look the same (except the logo, etc.). I'm hoping that I can get the Passport Parking app to work and then can delete Motu Parking app.

I get your point on "potential" but any lake still listed as an Area Of Concern by the EPA ("Worst of the worst") still has a way to go before projects like this will take off. https://www.epa.gov/muskegon-lake-aoc/about-muskegon-lake-aoc#buis Beneficial Use Impairments - Beach closings - Removed 2015 - Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption - Eutrophication or undesirable algae - Restrictions on drinking water consumption, or taste and odor - Degradation of fish and wildlife populations - Degradation of aesthetics - Degradation of benthos - Restrictions on dredging activities - Loss of fish and wildlife habitat