cutlervillegr

I wonder if the design is expandable for more seating later on? It doesn't appear so, with the roof/canopy over top. It seems like 3-5k now would be fine, but hopefully 8-10k is needed later on for a soccer team or GVSU football.

I think this is a great idea, and much more realistic than attracting a team from one of the Big 4 leagues (will not happen in GR). If you look at the other cities that have NLL teams, they are comparable to Grand Rapids. (Rochester, Hamilton, Albany, etc). The league does not have any teams in the MidWest, so GR would be a good location. And it's reasonably close to the teams around Lake Ontario, for some close-ish rivals. VAA would be decently sized for a lacrosse league. One thing that matters is youth lacrosse. I think it's much bigger on the East Coast than here. That helps for attendance...

As someone who drives that stretch of M-37 every weekday, I can confirm that this is badly needed. There was an accident just this afternoon north of 84th Street -- and that's a pretty common occurrence. I'd be curious to see the accident volumes on the stretch between 68th and 92nd. The stretch of M-37 between M6 and Hastings is growing rapidly. Even Patterson Ave has seen a big uptick in traffic at rush hour. Last summer, MDOT upgraded M37 from 92nd to Middleville, including some better turn lanes and a traffic light at Crane Rd. I'm guessing by the time the widening is complete between 76th and 92nd, we'll be discussing the need to expand this through Caledonia village to the county line. This isn't to say Wilson Ave doesn't need this, also...

I don't know much about the land (whether it is contaminated or not). Would this be a good candidate for some residential in-fill? Some high density housing could definitely fit in here; the area to the East and South is already the Godwin Heights neighborhood. I think the footprint is a little small for a Tesla factory, and it's been sitting for many years without any industrial development. Maybe a candidate for re-zoning?

Check out the Buffalo Main Street Mall for reference. A pedestrian road that killed all the business on the street. So now they are bringing back the cars to try and stimulate growth. And yes, they had an at-grade subway along that street, so rapid transit + no cars did not equal success.

Driving down M-37 at rush hour will tell you that there is a strong amount of Kent/Barry traffic occurring. The Middleville-Hastings corridor has definitely seen some strong population growth that should continue.

CSX is moving more towards interchanging with Short Lines (Tier 2 or 3 rail companies). Essentially, CSX doesn't want to switch out factories or individual businesses -- they want the short lines to do that -- but they will haul the freight from city to city. CSX Grand Rapids Subdivision is well set up for that. CSX can interchange with the G&W companies in GR and Holland, along with the shortline that comes up from Indiana and Kalamazoo (owned by Watco, I believe). CSX has some active customers by the airport, in Alto, and by the Wyoming Yard; along with Padnos on the West Side. I'm not aware of much additional traffic. They could let G&W switch those customers out and just work out of Wyoming and Holland yard. As someone already mentioned, CSX selling the track does not mean a more passenger rail-friendly operation would go in. It's fun to imagine what a commuter rail system would look like, but it would be a tough sled to get it going. Let's start by seeing 2x daily service to Chicago via Amtrak, or GR to Detroit service via Amtrak...

There's actually been a decent amount of Rochester-to-Grand Rapids migration the past decade. I personally know about a dozen or so. There's one college/university in the area that's responsible for the majority. Now getting the Western New Yorkers to root for the Lions or Tigers is a whole different beast. Those sports allegiances die hard...

Technically, M-37 doesn't pass through Gaines Township (NE boundary is 60th and Patterson). So, is this an expansion of the infrastructure around M-37 & M-6 for the new industrial/warehouse growth occurring around that area? Some additional lanes for 60th, 68th, Patterson, could be useful. M-6 clogs every afternoon at the M-37 interchange, so there is some opportunity there, too. If money or time or forward thinking weren't issues, I would suggest quite a few highway expansions: Re-build and expand I-196 from the Beltline to Hudsonville (I know I-196 is getting rebuilt from Grandville to Hudsonville right now, but why not add an additional lane for future growth in Ottawa County)? Expand I-96 from 28th Street to I-196 exit? Expand US-131 from I-96 to 10 Mile Rd? Shoot, why let Wilson become the "West Beltline"? The East Beltline is a mess during rush hours. Why not make it a limited access freeway connecting 28th Street @ I-196 to I-96? And lest we get too crazy with adding only highway lane miles, why not keep moving forward with the commuter rail option from Holland to downtown GR?

https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/01/see-which-roads-in-your-area-gov-whitmers-borrowing-plan-would-fix.html Mlive did an article about this a couple of weeks ago. Only widening project I saw was M-37 (Broadmoor/Beltline Ave) from 76th to 92nd Streets in Caledonia. Very much needed widening project. Of course, that's not until 2024.

Not just lately.... Neither political party is particularly interested in balancing the budget or reducing the debt.

I think what tends to happen in situations like this is stagnation for Founders in GR. Instead of seeing growth for Founders GR operations, instead you see further growth opportunities move elsewhere. Let's say Founders needs to expand capacity in 2022 (hypothetically). Before this, it probably would have involved purchasing or building in GR. Now, new operations may crop up somewhere else in the country. The corporate PR machine will say that opening a plant in Texas helps cater to the large population there, that this isn't replacing GR operations, this is a good thing for Founders, etc. Then, in 2025, a bottling line is shifted from GR to Texas. This continues until not much is left in GR. I hope I'm wrong. But there are innumerable examples of this occurring in many industries across the country. Time will tell, but while it may be a positive for Founders and their investors, it probably won't be the optimal development for GR and West Michigan. The other problem is that profits won't be filtering into GR. Profits go to the corporate headquarters and philanthropy, investment, etc. stay there and not in GR.

Does anybody know how well this building is leasing? I drove by Sunday for the first time in months, and it looked like there were quite a few cars parked outside.

My critiques tend to be related to the following: 1) When MDOT repairs a road, they tend not to future proof it. Examples being the twin I-196 projects in GR and Hudsonville. If you're going to take the time and money to do a major rebuild/reconstruct, why not prepare for future growth, too? MDOT seems to do projects for the present, or even for the traffic levels of 5-10 years ago. 2) Too often, I hear that Michigan roads are poor due to the weather conditions. Having grown up in an area of the country with twice the snow and similar temperatures, you can plow and salt the roads, and repair potholes. Somehow, Michigan hasn't looked to other states in the Northeast and Midwest to figure out what they already know about dealing with snow and freeze/thaw. Taxes and fees (also taxes) can be slushed around and make it difficult to tell state vs. state who is investing more or less in infrastructure. I don't know truly where Michigan stands, but I do know that Michigan taxes are not so low that under-investment can be the sole explanation for Michigan's infrastructure. I have to think that poor management, bad decision making, and poor engineering (see M-6 west of 131) have contributed collectively to the state of the roads.

I know Mdot isn't forward-thinking, but this is a stretch of highway that should be EXPANDED while it is reconstructed. The GR-Holland corridor isn't going to stop growing, so why not move the area around M-6 to 3 lanes in each direction now? Oh, yeah, because the gas tax isn't high enough yet...

A couple of things I find interesting in this photo: 1) In addition to US-131 not being put in yet, I-196 is also not under construction yet. 2) At the very top of the photo, you can see the GR & Eastern Rail bridge and the Ann Street bridge. Beyond (north) of that, there is very little. Alpine certainly hadn't developed into what it is today, and there isn't the growth that is currently on both sides of the river. Essentially, northern city sprawl ended at Ann Street.

I'm not intending to start a debate on the merits for or against the additional gas tax, but I'm curious about the quote below: would this help or hurt the GR area in getting more road attention? Would this help GR get some of the highway upgrades that I believe are necessary (3rd lane on I-96 between I-196 and 28th Street, 3rd lane on US-131 N of West River, 2nd lane on M-37 through Caledonia, etc.)? Or does this mean more money funneled towards Metro Detroit, at the expense of GR? "The new revenue would be targeted to the most heavily traveled and "economically significant" roads rather than be divided under a current formula that critics say favors rural areas." https://www.woodtv.com/news/michigan/a-breakdown-of-gov-whitmer-s-budget-plan/1829151276

I agree with the above comments that this is a waste of time and money. If it was my money to spend, I would use the $1,000,000 towards further growth and redevelopment in Burton Heights. That neighborhood seems to be benefiting from increased development recently, and returning it to a desirable neighborhood would go a long way towards improving the Silver Line. I think the Laker Line will do much better, with proven destinations at both ends of the line.

This article doesn't really spell it out, but I would prefer that any legislative fix (ie, tax hike), means that all gas tax money goes towards infrastructure. Michigan already has one of the highest gas taxes in the country, because so much of that money gets diverted elsewhere. If that also means an income tax hike, so be it, but a consumption tax should go towards said consumption.

If the public will carry the debt, then the city/county should be required to have the public vote for a millage specifically for this project -- just like occurs for taxes that pay for arenas/stadiums. I would enjoy voting no for additional taxes for a hotel.

What is the reason for the 24% decline? Cheap gas? Lots of airline options? Train reliability/availability? I would hope that a GR-Kzoo-Chicago Amtrak service would be in addition to, not replacing GR-Holland-Chicago service. Maybe arrive in GR early in the morning and leave GR late at night to mirror the current Pere Marquette service. Or maybe a mid-day arrival/departure out of GR. I think augmenting the service would help.

I heard from some one in the construction industry that part of the building is sinking. Has anyone else heard anything about this? It's just a rumor, but I heard it's going to cost Amazon a lot of money to correct the issue.

I'm new to this board (and relatively new to the area), but it is already depressing how often civic leaders screw up some rather obvious transit/cityscape choices (like not trying to complete the wye into the station). I'm sure it's even worse for those who have been following these decisions for a long time. You are correct about CSX. They are not a good host railroad for passenger/commuter rail, and this is evidenced throughout the country. A better option may be to buy R.O.W. from CSX. A decent portion of the GR-Holland portion is double tracked. I'm assuming the R.O.W. is there for the entire line to be double tracked from GR-Holland. Buying or leasing the R.O.W. from the second track may be the better option than dealing with CSX. Although, that defeats the entire point of the initial idea and probably destroys the budget for such an idea. Genesee & Wyoming owns from Ann Street north and east on the West Side. Coopersville & Marne (a tourist line) owns the line west of Ann Street. I believe Grand Elk owns from Hughart Yard (along 131 @ Burton St) south to Kalamazoo. They may also own the abandoned-in-place spur that juts out to 44th St southeast from Burton Street. I don't know how these companies are to work with for passenger/commuter rail, but some of these rail lines may be attractive commuter rail options, particularly a GR-Wyoming-Cutlerville-Byron Center-Wayland line that runs North-South. And like you said, a line up to Sparta would probably do well, also.

One option could be completing the wye to the Amtrak station. It looks like the city already owns the parcel at 280 Logan SW. Acquiring the top edge of 503 Century (Faber & Co) could possibly allow a wye to be connected that would eliminate the need for the train to stop, have the switch pulled and back into the station. Of course, Amtrak would likely be interested in this, too, so that makes me wonder if it isn't feasible, since Amtrak didn't already try this when they put in their station.

I would guess either MDot or Amtrak owns the Wealthy Street Station. (MDOT subsidizes most if not all of the Amtrak trains through Michigan). I would be opposed to using Wealthy Street for the GR Terminal. If you could tie in with the new (existing) Amtrak station off of Grandville Ave., you have a short walk across the parking lot to the bus depot. As others have noted, access to other forms of transportation would be key to making this idea work. Very unfortunate. Thanks for sharing the pictures! Do you have any pictures/locations of other possible depots along this corridor? Or pictures of former depots along this corridor?