torgo

Dallas

The only other people I see are the group of 4 in the bottim-left (ish) part of the pic.

The only reason I complain so much is because it seems like what should be the most important part of the building, the ground floor, seems to get ignored over and over again the high profile projects.

What a great problem we'll have in town. So many cranes! We better be careful they don't crash in to one another! I hope we can continue to have that problem for a long time...

Yeah, you're right. Only the people financing a project should have any say as to what it looks like. I'll happily trade the cost of the spire on the Children's hospital and the hamster tubes for some windows and basic respect to urban design. Using this logic, hospitals should just be giant metal boxes sitting on top of parking ramps. Heck, why not pave over a thousand acres in Dorr and put a lovely concrete bunker hospital out there in a sea of parking? That way more money will be spent of medical equipment, thus saving more lives. Adding windows on the base of these buildings will help to prevent anyone from become a "statistic". Blank walls will not. Hospitals should not get a free pass from all design standards just because they are hospitals.

crappy cars (getting a $700 repair bill today... oh joy)

I've bought tickets at the zone, but all they sell as far as apparel (I think) is Griffins, Rampage and Whitecaps stuff . The might have some stuff for Detroit teams, but I'm not sure. It looks to me that about half of that list are actual retail places within walking distance of downtown. And half of that half is actually in the core. A visitor who looks at that site and then goes for a walk around downtown is going to be disappointed. I also saw that salons, such as Judes (are we allowed to mention Judes on here? (only a few of you will get that)) and that place on Ionia are not mentioned at all.

coffee

I need a good (and affordable) place to get my car worked on (PM me please).. thanks in advance

I dont get the whole "arts and entertainment" strategy thing. Does anyone think that DT GR will be full of people going to art galleries and ballet concerts? rhino, a mass mailer to the burbs would cost like $300,000. Something in the press, or grbj, or whatever, now that makes more sense.

That seems pretty stupid. San Chez deals with the parking "problem" downtown, as do a ton of other DT restaurants. Sounds like a pretty crappy excuse. If the place is good, people will go there and deal with the "problem".

Oberon is back!

That's not entirely true. In many areas of the CBD, the front facade of a building has to be at least 60% transparent, and the back has to be at least 40 percent transparent. The code does not dictate what should go on on the ground floor of anything. The JW meets the requirements, and I'd bet that the zoning standards are different on the hill. And contrary to popular belief, you CAN build a nice looking hospital that isn't a bunker. Look at the way the Heart Center meets the street. Why can't everyone do that? Sure, its not retail, but no one expects to see a Whole Foods or a GAP on the ground floor of a hospital. All we're asking for are some G.D. windows!

Smokey and the Bandit

Huh? Do you mean VAI?

What a disaster. It seems like hospitals and medical buildings get a pass for their crappy design just because they are medical buildings.

Yeah, GR DAD of3 might be a chick.

poop

Nope, its a regular star, not an asterisk. I suspect twoshort is right.

What's the deal with the billboard on NB131 around Franklin St? Its black with a red star and the words "its coming..." Anyone know what that is talking about?

I drove by McFaddens, Black Rose and Flanigans just before 5 and there were lines out the door at all three places, each of about 20-50 people. Crazy!

And also don't forget, with the GVSU-owned lots, they are largely empty for four months straight from May-August.

I gotta go with 406' too.

This whole project is absolutely massive.

Geology