sfloria
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Posts posted by sfloria
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There are a handful of these little old repair shop/gas stations that are vacant on corners on Wealthy or Franklin. It would be great if more of them were given attention like this one.
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Wealthy Station Grill, which is on the corner where Family Dollar sits, has fantastic food. I don't see them going anywhere soon.
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And anyone that rides on the pipe dream is going to have the kind of disposable income necessary to make this a viable urban retail project? Let's get real here for a minute (and horrifically politically incorrect): People who ride buses in this town are people who have to because they don't have enough money for a car, and particularly so if they're going to a place with adequate free parking, which this project has in spades. Is the parking just a temporary thing until they can finish the build out? That would certainly be more logical.
Thats a very factless, stereotypical statement that a lot of doubters of transit have unfortunately. I rode the bus to work everyday from the SE side of GR to downtown. Not because I couldn't afford a car, which I own, but because it was cheaper to take the bus than to pay for monthly parking at nearby ramp. There was a wide variety of people on the bus. People going to work, students, visitors. The city shouldn't be adopting parking regulations based on what currently works for a development in the suburbs. They should be looking to the future when more people are using the transit system.
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Steel going up today!
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elementary schools and middle schools should spark creativity, i think the building should look as craqzy as possible like the Guggenheim had sex with a childrens museum.
Would that be Statutory Facadomy?
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Well, there is one thing I don't like. The massing is mostly on the side-street perpendicular to Division, whereas the Division-facing side is rather low. Each time I look at the rendering, I visualise Division having the side with the trees -- it feels natural that way -- but I have to remind myself otherwise.
Thats exactly how I felt too. Its a shame it'll be a one story building along Division. I guess they wanted to smooth out the transition to the Dollar Store...
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My money is on straightening Mt Vernon to connect to Front street so the navigation through there isn't such a maze.
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It always seemed to me that 131 and 196 were kind of redundant from their intersection to the Burton street exit for 131 and the Chicago exit for 196. Between those two points we have 2 highways running parallel to one another only 1.5 miles apart.
There is a little tributary to the Grand that intersects 131 near Burton and creates a natural ROW. Why not follow the creek and combine 131 and 196 until we get to the big junction downtown? Tear up 131 from Burton to 196 and keep 131 North from there. See thumbnail.
We’d still have plenty of highway off-ramps near downtown, so the office community couldn’t complain too much about highway access. We’d free up tons of real estate in central downtown, remove the S-curve and connect the urban market to ITP Central station/Amtrak.
I think that's a brilliant idea, but what would that do to the neighborhoods you are crossing through in the new path? Would you bury that whole section of new highway? I like the thought of completely rerouting 131 though. Old 131 could become a very nice boulevard at ground level bringing you into downtown.
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Great news!! Must be why the city did the land swap with those parking lots recently.
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There's a lot of activity on parcel C right now. Saw a small crane from 131.
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A new article posted about the Amtrak station:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/work_on_new_grand_rapids_amtra.html
It looks like that tall tower might be translucent, lit up from inside.
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Thanks John. Somehow I had missed those. Im glad that there is a tall element to it so it'll be noticeable from the highway, otherwise i'm not sure it'd be visible. I think that'll be a great addition to that area. Seems like a hotel in that empty warehouse next door could be a good use.
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Has there been a rendering of the new Amtrak station? Is it going to be as stunning as the current shed?
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If I were to realign the streets I'd try to make Front more of a straight-through.
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Sounds great! I'm glad there is more infil going into the southern part of downown. Lots of things brewing near Wealthy now! I just hope that Dwelling Place uses better materials than what they put on the Verne Berry Place. VBP could've looked much better with decent materials.
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Is the cool news still coming?
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Keep the chains on 28th street and alpine for all I care! I love the variety of places to eat at in the easttown area.
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It's not retail. It will be office space.
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Why has the HDVCH seemed to hit a roadblock on going vertical? Those stair towers haven't moved an inch in a couple months and now the steel has caught up and hasn't gone further either. Did they value engineer the height of the building?
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A couple images from the roof of Riverhouse last week.
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You can now see the stair tower for the Children's Hospital poking over the RDV buildings from the 6th Street bridge.
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Ummm, what are they gonna do with this?? (Healing Gardens at Blodgett campus)
Spectrum Health is announcing a new logo/"corporate identity."Current:
New:
]
Formal announcement to come tomorrow - you heard it herer first! Buildings, wayfinding signs, & other "big" signs will change first. The rest of the stuff will change over the next year. Some current logoed items will even be auctioned off. Seems like it would have been prudent to decide this before installing brand-new signs on the brand-new cancer pavilion but....
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Thats a great angle, not one modern glass structure in view. Almost looks European.
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Can someone explain who's going to ride this thing? The route might have some sucess if they instituted express buses (skip some stops) that will make it downtown almost as fast as the cars on the freeway. Also need to get rid of most of the parking lots downtown.
Division is already the busiest bus route for ITP. They believe that the BRT will get the most ridership along this route. There will still be regular bus service along Division that will stop every 2 blocks or so. The BRT will only stop at major crossings. I think this is one step at moving parking lots out of downtown. Companies can provide insentive packages for employees to get off at 54th and use the BRT, instead of parking downtown and using the DASH. When more and more people get used to riding the BRT, I think it will be an easy transition to move into a light rail system. I agree it would make a lot more sense to just go for the light rail at the beginning...
GRDad,
I don't remember any specific examples of economic development that BRT lines spurred, but they did show several examples of cities that use them and the different style busses that are used. They "look" like they are on rails. The buses literally don't show their wheels. It gives the impression that its on some kind of track.
Transit Updates for Greater Grand Rapids
in Grand Rapids
Posted
I like the interactive map. Very cool! I hope the projected development along the line actually comes to fruition. That would really help many areas that haven't seen growth in a long time.