Jonesey

I'm surprised there's still so many NIMBYs still over there. Why now? Has there been any updates?

Does anyone know if this is from Rosetti? I'm just a little disappointed that there's not 3-4 stories on the street level, they mentioned that as a priority

I guess I don't understand all of the speculation around this. It's going to be built. I don't think the city, county and state are just going to shrug their shoulders and say "welp, never mind" after putting millions into it. They did change the plans and they aren't going with office along Market right now, but office space is not in demand postcovid

I noticed those building were very similar in the renderings. People keep teasing that something is coming there. Maybe the CAA has some kind of idea what's planned there in the future, the Devos' are involved in Grand Action 2.0 and the CAA. Maybe those buildings just completely speculative If I had to guess (and dream) it would be a new tower for Accrisure HQ and a new hotel tower with lots of mixed use/parking on the first five floors (similar to the Hudson site). The rendering below almost shows more details of the towers than the amphitheater. If AHC has plans for the area, of course they would want an amphitheater right next to it. Again maybe those building are just a concept. The tower looks to be taller than River House and people having been using the phrase "skyline changing" when they mention the Fulton/Market project Overall I like it. As far as orientation goes, I'm sure they've thought about that. I don't think the sun will be an issue for performers with the shell and raised seating areas. The sun is also always slightly south. Maybe not the best view for concert goers, but at least it directs the sound toward the highway Here's the site plans Also regarding the parking it was noted in the packet of documents that future plans were to cover it

Yes, that tiny house project further down division is a great example. GR is at least now trying to take a little bit of a different approach instead of just throwing people in jail. I'm also curious how many people are not even from GR. Smaller cities and towns have much less resources

Also true for Division, but what should be done? Move the shelters further down Division? That doesn't really solve the problem, just moves it. I feel like this is an ongoing debate that never really goes anywhere. The real answer is actually trying to reduce homelessness.

Walking in the area and being able to see the tower from all different angles make it actually feel more like "downtown". There's still some prime space in the area and more 20 story towers would be awesome

As people have speculated there is a developer looking to take advantage of these new height restrictions. I don't have too many more details at this point, but heard tower(s) I I really wish they would look at at raising the restrictions for TBDs. Why can't we have up to 10 stories along corridors near downtown like Leonard, Bridge, Fulton, Michigan, etc?

https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/05/detroit-development-lands-21m-in-egle-brownfield-incentives.html This is very cool for Detroit (Midtown) a 16 story tower and Target is going to be the main Tennant. I couldn't help but think how well this would work in GR. I would think downtown and the surrounding area could definitely support a Target. This company has some cool projects across the midwest, I wonder if they have considered GR yet?

I have renderings somewhere. The plan was to demo the one story portion, renovate the the existing building, add two residential buildings along Monroe and Caledonia and then build a 600 space parking garage along Taylor. The interior would be greenspace. I thought this project was dead, but I'm guessing these massive old factory projects take a long time. My doing some quick math I would guess the two new buildings and parking garage would be 5-6 stories. Hopefully it happens, it would be a great catalyst to make the area like N. Monroe.

I know that rendering is just conceptual, but there appears to be a building where the fire station is. I wonder if the city has any future plans of selling that parcel as well and relocating the station? The city seems to be pretty flush with cash and the FD is building a new fire station on Kalamazoo and then this new consolidated facility. Obviously they would want to relocate it nearby, but maybe not such a prime location.

There's one on Division at Godwin Heights Middle school, but that one kind of makes sense with the parking and building being on opposite sides. IIRC, there was one on Alpine, maybe by the old Lear plant or Meijer? There are still a ton in Detroit, but maintinance has been an issue, there was even one (Corktown I think?) that somebody actually fell through. MDOT is adding more (way better looking ones) with the 94 reconstruction and also making the road bridges multimodal. Detroit has a lot more depressed highways than GR, so we get the tunnels.

Air show?

I thought the W. 28 was built to be the "downtown"? ATM it's just typical suburban crap with angled parking. It will be interesting to see what Magnus proposes, I would assume it will be ground floor retail with residential above. If they're really serious about it, they should look at Ada.

I read that IKEA is looking to add eight stores in the U.S. Coincidently, they currently have eight "pick-up points in the country with GR being one of them. The article did mention they are looking mainly at the south and east coast. Anyone think we'll finally get an IKEA?

Here's the view from above: https://share.earthcam.net/tJ90CoLmq7TzrY396Yd88O52QXhiLCQAXVvNU8XnQrQ!/spectrum_new_ambulatory_care_building/camera/panorama From my count only one more story on the tallest stair/elevator shaft (except maybe to the roof). It also looks like part of the building will be built on top of the existing ramp? Will we get 12 stories all along Lafayette? I really like the mass of this building, one of the few times I'm not mad about 12 stories. I really hope/think this will be the minimum height for future Spectrum projects. They already own most of the (underutilized) properties in this area, but really the only option for expansion would be in Belknap

I believe this is the same developer that was proposing the other factory projects, correct? If so, I'm a little skeptical. Don't get me wrong, I really hope it gets developed as promised. Obviously it will be in phases, but are they planning to have all of their projects going on simultaneously?

That building and the adjacent lot are probably the most prime development sites in the core downtown. I really hope whenever it gets developed, it's 25 stories+

Isn't all of Gaines township pretty much suburban garbage? I don't really get the "we want to preserve valuable corn fields". A densely wooded area, I could see, even the unique Fruitride area I kind of get. If you want to be surrounded by corn fields maybe move to Allegan county? Although the way the southern suburbs have expanded is pretty crazy, so give it a few years and Leighton, Dorr and Thornapple township will be in the same boat, they are also growing fairly quickly.

Hopefully they invest that money in a new, city's tallest skyscraper!

I find it very hard to believe Kent County only gained 83 people over the past two years. There are still a lot of people moving here and housing prices are rising yet again. How many thousands of housing units were added over those two years? I get it that household size is shrinking, but just look at the Grand Rapids reddit, there's a "I'm moving to GR soon" almost every other day. Sure, people are leaving, but I feel like more are moving in.

Townhomes. More info in the Ada PC packet

They've owned those for awhile, I think ever since they started building over there. They released a master plan awhile ago, but eventually they will build out the area. For now they're just renting out the houses

ahhh that makes sense, I know Arena place is run by them and I'm pretty sure the Warner/Norcross is too. I would love to see that lot across the street from the Amway be developed

Yeah, that's an Ellis lot, but I heard his sons are taking over the business, so maybe they'll be more keen to sell the surface lots.... we can only hope. I'm sure once the amphitheater and mystery development get build, that lot will be gone