DwntwnGeo

Veloise, (I could be wrong about this) I think we are talking about two different animals: One being the monies that Mr. Meijer has given towards downtown has come from his own poket and not the corporate pocket (or budget) of the Meijer Corporation. If a downtown store were to open I would think it should be feasible from a corporate stand point and not from a personal one (just my two cents).

I agree twoshort. I even think this question was publically asked to the current CEO and said there wasn't any interest at this time for a downtown store.

There is an update on Chris's site about this project. "Half of the Village of Orchard Hills at Three Mile Road and the East Beltline has been sold to a big retail development company, CBL & Associates Properties Inc. The press release indicates a fall start date for construction and an opening date of spring of 2009." The complete article is on Mlive.com: http://www.mlive.com/grpress/knapescorner/ I still wish retail of this size would set up shop in a downtown location

I know this is outside of the Grand Rapids Market, but I wanted to post it here for others to read. What are your opinions? If this works out on the East side of the State what type of similar markets are good for the Grand Rapids amd Westerm Michigan areas. We have talked about Muskegon <-> GR, Holland <-> GR, Kalamazoo <-> GR, Lansing <-> GR and Muskegon <-> Holland or south to Saugatuck and South Heaven. The article talks about how the rail service would be a "business - government partnership" An interesting quote from the article is: "The line would be operated by the Great Lakes Central Railroad, formerly known as the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay line. Cicchella said the plan is to create a transit authority that would be expandable in order to oversee the potential growth of the railroad south to Monroe and north to Traverse City and Petoskey." If this comes into reality it would touch or cross several larger cities including Alma (Alma College), Mt. Pleasant (Casino & CMU), Clare, Cadillac, Traverse City and Petoskey. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have a line that went from GR to Cadillac and GR to Lansing/Howell to connect with this system? I know I am in a dream land, but it is nice to see other people and other areas of the State starting to aquire and think about alternative modes of transit. The two articles are: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pb...D=2007704270338 http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.d...D=2007704260320 Another Forum member started a thread in the Michigan section on the first section between Howell and Ann Arbor being operational this Fall. The thread is: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=37986

First of all I am an Electrical Engineer and not one that studies the law of air movement. (1) Even with the entire back of the deck open on all levels I would guess that there would have to be at least some openings on the other three sides of the deck to generate the cross winds needed to evacuate the "bad" gasses. (2) Even with the large doors that open onto Michigan, I do not know if there would be enough cross winds generated to evacuate that amount of sq footage on a given floor. There may be enough with just the openings, but if there wasn't I would think a louvered wall would be an option. Another thing to think about is because in the eyes of Utility companies and probably the city these are three seperate buildings with seperate addresses. Yes they are all being built at the same time, but they have to be considered indivigual buildings and be able to stand alone and hold all the code requirements as a stand alone building. (4) You could be right on the fact that they are/were valued engineered down to save money. I am not in the design/construction side of this project (or any on this board) and wouldn't know if there were other options out there or not. Another idea is maybe there is some kind of glass window/wall, that will open and close automatically. This would allow for the transparentancy and also any air movement required. I would have to think that if air movement wasn't need they would have put something else in other than louvers.

Here is a picture in the Ballet thread post today..... Should be be bashing this thread too? It looks like another blank wall and it even faces US131. Granted it is a threatre, but the donors could have paid to build windows and shadow boxes or someting so people walking by will have something to inspire their lives. Maybe it will be a big billboard for the Highway, oh I forgot Jenny won't let us build any new ones.

In the image above, it does show venting between the planters and the wall for the lower parking decks. What about the top parking level in the picture. It is above the "planter" section in the picture, so where does the gasses on this level go?

I have a question: So if you replace the louvers with glass do you in turn have to add additional cost to the project? Meaning GRDad, you mentioned it is only $130K for the material replacement from louvers to glass. Now you have created a more enclosed parking structure with dangerous car/truck exhaust. Would additional ventalation systems need to be installed in order to get these dangerous gases out? With installing additional ventalation/exhaust fans, do you now have to change the structual support of the buidling foudations to fit these into places. My point is that chaning one item, may (but not always) change several other items adding additional costs than just the cost difference of the materials. I not in full support of blank walls in downtown enviroments, but I think that Designcritic has brought up some good points. I do agree with him that it seems (in my opinion) that most of this board revolves around members criticism of projects. Sometimes sitting on my couch, I can b!tch and moan about how I would have done things better and how I would have fought for this and that. At the same time I look at my own Engineering work and realize that sometimes items I disagree with at my level are not what the members up the food chain believe or think. Sometimes items are strong enough that I bring them up while others are not worth the effect or risk of job/project. We all have to decide what items we choose to live and die over. I do believe if there are enough people (in and outside of this forum) that feel so bad about these walls, that they should go and plead their case with the City because fighting about it here doesn't do anyone any good in my opinion. By the time projects are announced and are published here, there isn't much any of use can do to change any of it.

Why He!! yes.... We can tack on a couple hundred thousand here for this visual add on for person1 and then we can add another hundred thousand for something person/group2 would like to keep them happy and before you have it you are not a couple hundred thousand over budget, but several million over budget, but that is alright, because we have "families" that will pay for this. We shouldn't ask the City because they are out of money already and to ask the citizens for a tax increase for beautification would just be wrong is person/group3 eyes.... In this world it is just so difficult to keep every person/group happy.

Sounds like Pill Hill and the City mix like oil and water.... We should send them, their jobs and their tax base to the burbs. As mentioned in other threads, a nice vacant piece of farmland will be cheaper than downtown. Maybe with the money saved, they can put some more detail into the outside instead of what is inside

Welcome to the Forum oakeslife! There are several members that are interested in this topic and also would like to get together in person to discuss/talk about downtown retail and what could be done. When a meeting is set up someone will post the information (when/where) on the site. I believe after you have 10 messages you will be able to Private Message (PM) some of the members on here if you would like to ask them specific questions. Again welcome to the group!

What are the radius of the other cranes along Michigan? I would want to make sure that none of the other cranes would cross over the existing work areas and adjacent buildings. The last thing we need is to have two cranes colide with each other over Michigan.

I saw this on WZZM website today: "State Reps. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, and Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, have scheduled a news conference this afternoon to launch the proposal that would, among other things, raise the state's gas tax by 9 cents over three years. The current state tax is 19 cents per gallon." "The lawmakers will be joined by business leaders and representatives of unions and local government who have been urging action to raise more revenue for road construction, bridge repair and mass transit ." It is probably nothing, but the article mentions "mass transit" I wonder if this was written in the story to gain support for the proposed bill, or if the State is starting to look at alternate forms of transit. Of course things could remain the same and the State continues to provide $1 to mass transit for every $1000 to roads. The complete story can be read here on WZZM's website: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=73414

Correct me if I am wrong Sparky, but I think this is the building on the West end of the developement. They are just that high with the parking garage levels already.

The Sierra Room on Ionia south of Fulton will close on May 5th after being open for 10 years.... "Colleen Gill, general manager and daughter of the restaurant

Thanks for the update djcorey and welcome to the forum. I hope all goes well with your plans

I think he was just referring to the fact that you are the Moderator and therefore the "Mother" of our board.... Either way, I thought it was funny

Pretty cool stuff! I just hope we can get the existing rail companies to allow joint use of their tracks in the area.

Have you been to any of the popular New York and/or Chicago bars lately? It isn't uncommon for them to require you to spend thousands of dollars in booze before you can reserve a table and most of them are all above the common floor area and in my opinion all have over priced drinks. To me it just sounds like it is becoming the growing standard in larger cities. Grand Rapids, might not be large enough yet, but don't kid yourself that this doesn't happen in other cities around the world What is wrong with "trance" clubs? If it isn't your type of music you don't have to frequent the establishment. I may not be a fan of country music but I wouldn't say that there couldn't be one in downtown.

What ramp costs $7 for 10 minutes or even an hour? Granted a lot of ramps have "Event" parking for that price at night, but even on event evenings, you can ask to have a ticket at the booth and pay regular rates for shorter time intervals.

I think it is still open though I don't know for how long. I drove by last night and saw people walking in and out of the building. I ate there a few weeks ago and they were out of a type of liqour and mentioned they were not planning on restocking it because of the change over.

First thing: Welcome to the Forum! What time of day do you drive between Downtown and Rockford? Personally I don't live on the Nothern end of town, but have driven to friends in the Rockford/Cedar Springs area many times. Just about everytime I go there are some kind of hold ups on US131 Northbound between I-96/West River Drive all the way to 10/14Mile Road exits. Sure there are moments when you can get back up to speed, but then you have to slam on your brakes because everyone is now stopped. Now during work hours, I have had to drive to Cedar Springs and Rockford along with other cities, and I would agree at certain times of the day, there isn't really a problem (mostly after morning rush hour until early afternoon 10am-2pm).

Thanks for the information about the rail routes I wouldn't say that 2007 technology is worse, but Federal/State/City Govenments might have more regulations/restrictions than they did in 1924

Was there a study done by the City or Regional Group (GVMC) when the proposal to move the bus depot to the current "great white tent" location was announced? Was there any reasons as to why they picked the current location over any others in the downtown area? Though I really don't mind the current location, Raildudes Dad sugguest some good points for future flow through rail service. Would it be possible for another transit center to be built in the older rail yard? This would create one transit center for rail (commuter & Amtrak) and the current transit center for Greyhound/busses etc. Then they can have the street car system transfer between the two in a circular connector

Here is a link to the new proposed FTA New Starts program http://www.fta.dot.gov/planning/newstarts/...nment_5615.html Specfic links to the Small Starts and Very Small Starts Programs: http://www.fta.dot.gov/planning/newstarts/...onment_222.html The Very Small Starts and Small Starts programs seem to have similar requirements other than costs.