cstonesparty

I think M-6 as a commuter tool makes outlying areas near 8th Ave in the SW region continue to be preferred direction for growth vs longer drives.

Didn’t DASH route change reduce ridership and hasn’t recovered yet?

If you look at the structure of minor league baseball it will quickly become clear that the Whitecaps are exactly where they should be and Detroit will always have Toledo at AAA. Imagining otherwise is a waste of time and energy.

One of the most instructive parts of this article is that attendance peaked quite a while ago and has plateaued... Comments in this thread envisioning expansion of seating capacity should bear that in mind. They're enhancing services with revenue generating offerings and segments in mind... Not growing capacity.

Will United ever bring back the direct flight to Dulles?

I have to wonder if they kept the indoor structure and changed business model to make it the suburban entertainment district for people who don't like downtown, want to park near the restaurant, bar, etc. Add indoor minigolf, gokarts, fowling, etc. That would seem like a pivot that could be successful if combined with some ongoing niche retail and some housing conversion of part of the structure... South and west suburbs are rich opportunity for non-downtown people.

I think we've basically circled around to previous conversation about city hall. That seems to me to be the crux of the issue--as long as city hall is there, the use of that block is somewhat locked. Is there ANY possibility that city leaders would consider relocating? I think very unlikely. Even more unlikely that the federal building would be relocated...

that isnt wood. metal panels

All over the city at this point. Strikes me as lazy and uncreative to be frank. It's gonna look like three designers with a limited repertoire designed everything for a decade by the time this fad is done. (more than a decade--when did the UICA building go up?)

reupping on this comment since the recent renderings show same metal cladding trend... folks who were hoping for brick & ivy / old fashioned ballpark cues. It's definitely not that!

That's fairly underwhelming for that site, based on the potential it has. But since it's been marketed for--what, a decade?--quite some time without success, it was inevitable that something underwhelming would go in there. At least it's not another strip mall with dispensary and payday cash...

I work a few blocks away and could smell it in our building. Was wondering what was on fire...

how does Crains have the submission? I looked on Planning Commission page and nothing has been posted on that agenda yet...

Cool. Another magic wand follow-up... If you could have either the post office or city/county buildings to expand DeVos Place, which would you use? What's your 'best-use' for either property?

if you had the magic wand, where would you put city hall?

That's a pretty interesting report that you pulled that stat out from... lots of positive stuff in there, like you showed. Also some things to be watching to see what the ongoing trend looks like: DASH lost a ton of ridership when they changed the route visitor activity counts down hotel occupancy down

Did they revise the highly restrictive aspects of ADU siting that you've commented on previously, @whitemice?

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/health-care/devos-family-donates-50m-to-3-grand-rapids-area-pediatric-projects/

Crains article from the focus groups... https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/economic-development/heres-what-grand-rapids-residents-are-saying-about-the-proposed-soccer-stadium/

I pass there very frequently and it appears very busy most of the time. That and Westside Social seem to be full more often than not... O'Charley's was sort of an effort at a more chain-type mid-level restaurant (licensed, not acquired) from them, but that didn't really last either...

isn't that what they do, though? develop restaurant concepts? get out of them after they've hit a plateau or pour fuel on if they work? I'm not any kind of expert in the restaurant field, but I've heard the life-cycle of a restaurant is pretty short, so this would seem to be their strategy.

Approaching three years on the market... price now down to $11 million... https://www.loopnet.com/viewer/pdf?file=https%3a%2f%2fimages1.loopnet.com%2fd2%2f1yFMvP-Wk_k14zaaobexbHk0xBET7FzQ1ixojrY8IZc%2f111%20Commerce%20OM.pdf

have to wonder if a lot of that was pie-in-the-sky thinking and we'll get a half dozen small/medium scale projects on the water's edge instead of the encompassing vision that River for All/GR Forward envisioned. The project on the water's edge at the museum is going forward, and likely the city parcel north of 196 will, but what else REALLY will happen?

precast panels?

Large investments in JBZ infrastructure over recent years make reconsidering the GR golf club site very unlikely…. Not to mention voters previously rejected that idea. IMHO, the dump site as a parking solution will rise quickly as parking combined with solar will prove attractive and relatively low cost (compared to a ramp). on the topic of Acrisure building, I’ve heard a number of people from Acrisure relay that the company really likes being part of the Arena South neighborhood (to use the old label that preceded Studio Park). I wonder if that will attract them to the site next to the s-curve more than the Fulton/Market development site. Will be interesting to see how this goes…