jonathan.jam

**Note: the junction is in New Buffalo, not Bangor.

Yes, but they have an established character that was formed in the early part of the 20th century around the radial avenues and streetcars in Detroit. The only unincorporated places in Wyoming township at the time were Barendsenville, Beverly and Fisher Station...none of which exist today. Since Grand Rapids did not grow as fast or to the extent that Detroit did, it was easier for these 'small towns' to be destroyed or for them to disappear with time. This happened all over the Grand Rapids area. East Grand Rapids and Grandville are the only ones that really survived and grew to have some semblance of a business district/downtown.

I agree with everything you said. Is 28th Street (in Wyoming) even still a "shopping and dining destination" for all of West Michigan? I don't really see it as such anymore...it's more of a dying area. Has anyone else been in Rogers Plaza lately? I have, and I got out as soon as possible because I felt so depressed in there. Wyoming does not have a downtown, and it never really has. Grandville is really the only inner-suburb that has any semblance of a downtown. Any development like this that takes place off of 28th Street will, in my opinion, fail. If they continue to treat 28th St as simply a way to get from one point to the other, I'm afraid that all Wyoming will end up with is a failed 'town center.' The problem with places like Wyoming, Kentwood and Jenison is that they are not built around actually villages or towns (or at least what once were village centers are no more). These places (minus Jenison) incorporated purely as suburbs of Grand Rapids. If Wyoming officials actually want some sort of downtown, I think it will have to be directly on 28th St. This would be difficult to work-out since 28th St is a state highway, but I'm sure compromises could be made to calm the street down in order to provide a pedestrian-friendly environment. ^ Your last two paragraphs couldn't be more true! I'm still living in Byron Center right now (just graduated), and you wouldn't believe the amount of families that are moving out of Wyoming to Byron Center...has it really been that long ago since Wyoming was the place to be?

This... http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2013/07/major_tenants_announced_for_28.html#incart_river ...seems to indicate otherwise. Is MLive just inaccurate?

I just feel as though this will stick out too much. The materials do not appear to match anything else in the area. The height also seems a bit out-of-place in comparison to the JA Building and Veterans Park. I do not mind the height overall, but it would be nice if the development had varying/staggered heights leading up to 14 so that the jump does not appear too drastic next to the JA Building. ...if anything of that makes sense. haha

The rendering looks awful, in my opinion. However, the project itself seems pretty good...Here's too hoping that the actual façade will look much better!

I saw this on mlive as well. Approval for the project has been tabled again until July. Hopefully there will not be too much more that gets cut from the project.

I'm not sure in which direction the expansion will take place, but it will be interesting to see take place. http://mibiz.com/news/design-build/item/20669-ferris-plans-gr-expansion-to-accommodate-coffee-nut-growth