Ka3kab

Been another 3 months so time for another update. The parking deck for Hagerty still looks like a go, but hasn't started yet. Apperently, if they don't get the deck, Hagerty says is will move out of state. The project at Park and Front street has started like I said, when I said, so basically it is still a hole in the ground but with people in it, finally. Snowden's developments are still stalled as are the Federated projects, but at least Snowden seems to be moving forward a little. He resubmitted the site plan for W. Front and State St. It still has a parking deck, but the building is slightly smaller. Umm, let's see. Oh, Cherry Capital Airport is the second most expensive airport to fly out of in the country says Forbes, so who knows. It is very expensive though. West Bay froze over for the first time in about 10 years and we should get 6-10 more inches of snow to go along with the 105 inches we've had so far this year. Other than that, still not much going on up here and I can't wait for spring/summer, anything with temps over 50 degrees.

It's been 3 Months since a post, so how about an update. Parking deck in old towne (Haggerty Insurance) actualy looks like it will get built sometime next spring. Federated has still not done anything with any of its properties downtown and neither has Snowden Development. The hole in the ground at Front St. and Park is finally getting filled in. A mix-use five story development with retail/commercial on the ground floor, offices of 2-4 and condos/penthouses on 5 with 24 underground parking spaces for the condos. Work should begin in February according to the developer. Other than that, it's been cold and snowing all week and the ski resorts have opened before Thanksgiving for the first time in nearly a decade. Good for them. See ya.

I think everyone has been. Not a whole lot has been going on though, not a big suprise in this sort of economy. There has been some talk of some projects that will probebly never happen because of their location. Someone, I'm not sure who, wants to build a hotel and two condo buildings (all 4 stories) along the Grandview Parkway west of the Harbour View building. Because of its location along the water, it will never happen. So, theres that. None of Snowdens buildings are started, neither are any of the Federated buildings. The new building at 8th and Union is almost finished, and it looks pretty good. The city would like to build a parking deck in the same area for the Hagerty Insurance building employees because they take up almost every available space for 3 blocks. But that is only in talks right now and is already drawing major opposition.

That is about all I saw also. I had to work in Lake Ann the entire week, so I missed everything but the saturday airshow and the end of festival fireworks the next saturday. But, I got my elephant ear, so in my book that is all I need.

Where the hell is everybody.

The Holiday Inn does alright I would think. The parking lot always looks pretty full. But did you mean the Park Place? That would be the hotel in the picture. If you did mean that one, than again, I think they do okay. Of course, all of the hotels around town are packed during Cherry Festival and are pretty full for most of summer. It looks like it will be a down year though, what else is new is this wonderful economy. As for chances of another hotel tower popping up downtown, I would like to see it, the area could certainly handle it, but they have a hard enough time opening anything here that it would take ten years if it were proposed today. As for Meijer; blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I could care less. I don't shop at Meijer and don't live near Acme or ever really go out that way. Sorry, maybe somebody else will have some insight.

One of our holes in the ground may get filled finally. The area around the red fence is the hole. Last week the city was considering making it into a plaza type park. The owner then sold the property to someone who wants to build a five story mix-use building on it. So hopefully, something will happen. Anything will be better than the hole. As for it's twin on the opposite side of downtown, no idea. Maybe we will have to look at that one for the next five years also.

Like everything around here they have been talking about it for almost a decade now, done about a dozen studies on it and are still nowhere near a decision. The DNR and DEQ, I think, have had it and will make a decision soon for the county (the dam owners) and Light and Power (the dam users).

Some pictures I took today (72 degrees and sunny, won't last though ) of the Boardman Dam and Pond. It has been drained by 17 feet for safty purposes. The dam is 78 years old and was supposed to only last 50 years. Not very urban, but what the hell. If it broke, it would flood urban areas right. Check it. Where the vegatation starts is where the water used to come up to. This picture is from the other side of the spillway. I bet you guys didn't know the Boardman was this wide south of Boardman Lake.

It is hard to say when this will end, and the economy makes it even that much harder to say. I personally think that it will be a very long time before any major changes are made downtown, i.e. zoning that would allow something over 65 feet, and I don't ever see an apartment or condo builidng going up on west bay that is over 5 stories. Most peoples idea of controlling growth in this area is to keep home prices ridiculously high and to keep wages ridiculously low. If you're from this area, you wonder how in the hell do so many people live in houses that cost $300,000+ when the per capita income is $24,806 and the poverty rate is 17.3%. There is very little affordable housing in the Traverse City area unless you want to live 15-40 miles away in tiny little towns like Kingsley, Honor or Kalkaska. Then you have to drive back into TC to work and shop and spend $25.00 round trip for gas. It is a simple, but effective way of keeping most people from moving here.

It does look like the same shot you get from the WJRT tower cam, but on that one, there is a blue banner at the top giving the date and time.

Ground level retail, offices on 2-5 and condo's on the 6th through 8th. Also, Federated plans for a four story across the street are dead now also.

Now the Federated project for 145 W Front St is dead. The company will not seek an extension of their land-use permit and they say they may try again later. This was the 100 ft., 8 story building. They say they are moving ahead with their plans for the other side of the street, but we'll see.

Meijer and Acme Twp. have dropped all of thier existing appeals to the numerous cases pending. I don't feel like tying it all in here so here is a link to the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Nope, not really. There is some work going on at the corner of 8th and Union which I thought was going to be a new parking deck for the whole RiversEdge development. But I saw in the RE yesterday that they (the good ol' get nothing done city commision) were still arguing over whether or not to let it happen. So now I am not so sure what is going in there. If it weren't 4 degrees out I would head downtown to take a look, but I think I'll wait until next week when it "warms up" into the mid-teens.

Negative. Work has stopped there also as Federated waits to see if they will be issued a new Land Use Permit. There current one will expire in February and there are now so many changes to the proposal that they would need a new one anyway. This economy has put a stop to a lot of projects here in town.

I'm not even sure anymore. There is no movement anywhere on this project. The land sits empty and the courtrooms full. Typical Traverse City development. There is some news downtown. Work has started on a new parking structure that will supply much needed parking to the area around Cass and 8th St. Most of the spots will be available to the people who live and work at the Haggerty Insurance building and the Rivers Edge buildings. Right now it is an empty lot with some prep work happening, so nothing really to see in pictures, but I hope to have some over time.

No doubt. I went and took my duaghter to see Elf on Saturday and the place was just awsome. We sat up in the balcony and just had a blast. Great picture and sound and up on the ceiling, a proffesor from Northwest Michigan College mapped out the sky in Traverse City in August and he directed the construction crew where to drill holes so that now, when you look up, it's lit up like the sky at night (in august )

The plan is to show mostly indie films, but the catch is that Moore cannot show movies that are playing at cinemas owned by Carmike Theaters, because they actually have a 10 year lease on the building (even though they never put any money into opening the place) There is a deal that if a movie is not playing on a certain number of screens, Moore can show it here. On some other news, Lars and the Real Girl opened here this weekend at the State and apparently pulled in the most money from any theater in the country.

Not that I know of either. From what I've read, it's mostly because of Michael Moore's connections. There will also be some other premiers, some national and some Michigan over a four day span beginning with opening night. This article from Northern Express Magazine goes into more detail.

Even if you guys on this board don't like Michael Moore's social or political views, you can't help but like what he has done to the State Theater in Traverse City. It Opened in 1917 as the Lyric Theater, but was gutted by fire twice (1923 and 1947) and was rebuilt in 1949 as the State Theater. It stayed open until the 70's and underwent some pretty bad renovations since. The balcony was taken down and the paint and murals inside were pretty bad. It opened again in 1996 when the Interlochen Center for the Arts bought the property. They were going to do a $6.9 million renovation on it but that never actually happened. So even though it was considered "open" nothing ever happened there. Rotary Charities of Traverse City bought the place in 2003 and also planned to renovate but again nothing happened. Then along came Michael Moore who used it for the Traverse City Film Festival during the 2nd and 3rd years. Apparently, he bought it from Rotary for $600,000 and finally renovated it. Now it is set to open on November 17 with the American Premier of The Kite Runner. I haven't been inside, but I understand that they rebuilt the balcony and have redone all the seating. It should be pretty nice and it will be very cool not have to go to the stupid friggin' mall to see a movie. Note: Good lord, this sounds like an ad. I promise that it's not.

Here is another article from the Record-Eagle about the Federated site at 145 W. Front St. Again they don't say much about what sort of changes may be made, but this time they said it was likely that both parking spaces and building size would be different.

Yeah, that would make sense.

Just all kinds of bad news coming out of Traverse City today. First off, there was snow on the ground this morning. It was a nice, long and warm summer and most of fall, but I am just not ready for this. Damn you warm weather. Also, Federated Properties asked the city on monday for another extension on thier special land-use permit, a one year extension, which means they are not any closer to starting than they were at the beginning of this year. Also, it looks as though it will be a scaled back version (this is their ten story project at 145 W. Front St.) althogh they did not specify exactly what would be scalled back, i.e. height, parking deck spaces, so who knows. To be honest, I will be shocked if this thing ever happens. And last but not least, the good morons of Traverse City voted the entire City Council out of office yesterday, exept for one, because of the whole Federated mess. For those that don't know, the old council was probebly just as bad and none of them wanted the building or deck because it used public money. So Federated went to the county to get the money from the brownfield fund, which the county was willing to do. So how this was the city's fault is beyond me. But basically what it boils down to is that while Garfield Township continues to grow (in the form of sprawl) the idiots in the city don't want any change or apparently anymore residents and build on property that sits vacant with an old car dealership (that moved to Garfield Township) and looks like crap and is a very lovely eyesore on probebly the entire west side of downtown. Good job fellow Traverse Citiens, good job.

Well, if you believe what the people of my fair city of Traverse City have to say, then the Detroit suburbs only have another 100 miles to go before they reach the bridge. Listening to the radio clip you put on, the guy said there is a demand for light rail. How true is that? I imagine someone has had to have done a survey on it, any ideas where the numbers could be found? And lastly, what kind on engines will these trains be running, if they get running, gas or electric? This could be a huge opportuninty for Detroit and its burbs and I for one hope that it becomes a reality. My questions sound like I'm a little skepital, but thats not the way I wanted them to sound so you all know.