Wealthy Street Mega Thread

[organsnyder]

52 minutes ago, EastownLeo said:

At what point of renovation do you think.... ill just remove this load bearing wall.  No big deal....

Everyone knows that exterior walls are never load-bearing. 

[sfloria]

I was passing the building on the southeast corner of Wealthy and Fuller last night and noticed that it looked like the roof was caving in on the shorter section of the building. I wasn't able to take a picture but it doesn't look pretty.  Something is going on with these buildings on Wealthy...

[joeDowntown]

On 2/7/2017 at 8:39 AM, mielsonwheels said:

Joe,

I feel like you should think higher of yourself than to resort to calling yourself ugly names. 

Haha. Darn fat fingers!

Joe

[wingbert]

1 hour ago, organsnyder said:

Everyone knows that exterior walls are never load-bearing. 

Everything is fine.  This is typical of renovation projects like this.  It's going to be great and everyone will love it when it's done.  #AlternativeFacts

[joeDowntown]

6 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Ha! "Let's just remove a couple of these studs, they look rotten anyway. Oh, well I guess a couple more studs. Oh shit, all the studs went down..." 

Look mom, no hands!

[GRDadof3]

I remember the building where Johnny B'z used to be was somewhat like this. But they had real professionals bring it back to life. 

[organsnyder]

9 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

I remember the building where Johnny B'z used to be was somewhat like this. But they had real professionals bring it back to life. 

The garage at our old house looked somewhat like this when I was working on it and discovered that a wall was rotted out. But I jacked it up so it wouldn't be in danger of collapsing. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I knew enough to do that.

[WMrapids]

Nothing duct tape won't fix

Edited February 8, 2017 by WMrapids

[GR_Urbanist]

In a shift from the string of destruction that is befalling Wealthy the past two weeks, the old "Etoy's" space looks like it is getting some major work done. The old boarded-up front is gone, and workers are busy inside.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2017 by GR_Urbanist

[joeDowntown]

1 hour ago, GR_Urbanist said:

In a shift from the sting of destruction that is befalling Wealthy the past two weeks, the old "Etoy's" space looks like it is getting some major work done. The old boarded-up front is gone, and workers are busy inside.

 

 

There were plans in one of the city packets a few months ago. Extensive renovations including ripping down and rebuilding an addition on the back. I think it was going to be retail in the front of the first floor, offices on the back half/second floor. 

Joe

[Raildude's dad]

I'm surprised the city doesn't have 745 Wealthy cordoned off. That white corner post has a lot of extra weight on it. Anybody call the building dept?

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, Raildude's dad said:

I'm surprised the city doesn't have 745 Wealthy cordoned off. That white corner post has a lot of extra weight on it. Anybody call the building dept?

There are apparently stop work orders posted all over the front door. Seems like a bandaid fix. The city should shore it up and then bill the developer, slap a lien on him. 

[ModSquad]

11 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

There are apparently stop work orders posted all over the front door. Seems like a bandaid fix. The city should shore it up and then bill the developer, slap a lien on him. 

That's exactly what the City is doing.  The stop work order was executed almost immediately when this dangerous situation was discovered and a vendor is being quickly sought to physically shore it up to keep it safe and that work will result in a lien on the building.

[Raildude's dad]

IMHO the sidewalk, parking lane, and that alley need to be barricaded ASAP. That column is so overloaded I don't know what keeps the 2nd floor up. I wouldn't want to be a worker working on shoring it up. Someone walking by when it decides to collapse could be seriously injured or worse.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Raildude's dad

[arcturus]

On 12/22/2016 at 4:03 PM, Pattmost20 said:

Now I'm 99% sure it is 57 BrewPub. The listing on this site says it was established 2012, which 57 was, and has it listed at 6300 sqft which is within a few hundred of what is listed on the tax records. They state the reason for sale as retirement.

Funny, 57 was just awarded a silver medal for their Oatmeal Stout.  Wondering if their recipe comes with the sale.  

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/02/michigan_breweries_win_8_medal.html#incart_river_mobile_index

Edited February 9, 2017 by arcturus

[GRCentro]

On 2/8/2017 at 10:16 AM, GRDadof3 said:

GRGridGirl posted this picture on FB, 745 Wealthy St looks like it's about to topple over. Apparently the renovation company and owner are in way over their heads. 

I took a closer look at this building recently. It definitely looks scary, but is (temporarily) stabilized. Apparently an inadequate footing beneath a steel post (barely visible in the photo, about halfway down the building) began sinking. What you can't see in the photo is a large steel girder that supports the second floor joists. Although deflecting severely, the girder is being temporarily supported by jacks. It appears that the east wall studs were intentionally removed as to not inhibit the jacking. 

Since my visit, the alley has been barricaded, the sidewalk blocked and scaffolding erected. I'm sure this is all ending up far more expensive than the owner had imagined, but hopefully the project is back on track.

[GRDadof3]

5 hours ago, GRCentro said:

I took a closer look at this building recently. It definitely looks scary, but is (temporarily) stabilized. Apparently an inadequate footing beneath a steel post (barely visible in the photo, about halfway down the building) began sinking. What you can't see in the photo is a large steel girder that supports the second floor joists. Although deflecting severely, the girder is being temporarily supported by jacks. It appears that the east wall studs were intentionally removed as to not inhibit the jacking. 

Since my visit, the alley has been barricaded, the sidewalk blocked and scaffolding erected. I'm sure this is all ending up far more expensive than the owner had imagined, but hopefully the project is back on track.

I saw a post on FB that the only thing that can be saved is the facade. Anyone know if this is true? It was from a local business owner right down the street. 

[GRCentro]

41 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

I saw a post on FB that the only thing that can be saved is the facade. Anyone know if this is true? It was from a local business owner right down the street. 

Hmmm. That is news to me. That would require a demolition permit which, to my knowledge, hasn't been pursued. The rear addition was already demolished, with permission. And the plan all along was to replace all the siding and a number of windows. In that sense, perhaps only the front facade will remain "as is", though I don't think they intend to take down the entire structure.

[Raildude's dad]

This is what it looked like about noon today. I tried to see thru the door, that's all that you can see thru. I didn't want to get too close. It looks like there are a few columns inside but nothing along the exterior wall. At least the sidewalk is blocked off. I'm not sure the purpose of the scaffolding at this point.

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Raildude's dad
spelling

[GR_Urbanist]

Realistically, is this building even savable?

I guess the experts know better, but it seriously looks like they are tying to prop up a building made of wet paper just to spite gravity. To even save it will make it so unaffordable as a place to sell or rent that it will have been better off to just tear it down and start over.

[joeDowntown]

3 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Realistically, is this building even savable?

I guess the experts know better, but it seriously looks like they are tying to prop up a building made of wet paper just to spite gravity. To even save it will make it so unaffordable as a place to sell or rent that it will have been better off to just tear it down and start over.

Well, anything can be saved, just depends on the price. I don't remember this building looking SO saggy in the past. Is a lot of the damage a result of the construction?

Joe

[Raildude's dad]

8 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

Well, anything can be saved, just depends on the price. I don't remember this building looking SO saggy in the past. Is a lot of the damage a result of the construction?

Joe

The "damage" is due to the DEconstruction of the east wall. It appears the contractor and that's a loose use of the word removed all the studs from what was a load bearing wall. I really don't know what is keeping the east half up. I could see a few interior columns but it sure looks like the east wall was load bearing.

[WMrapids]

Man, I really thought that the wind today would bring this thing down like it did to that abandoned building in Kalamazoo.

[GRDadof3]

3 hours ago, Raildude's dad said:

The "damage" is due to the DEconstruction of the east wall. It appears the contractor and that's a loose use of the word removed all the studs from what was a load bearing wall. I really don't know what is keeping the east half up. I could see a few interior columns but it sure looks like the east wall was load bearing.

A building of that size on Wealthy Street has got to be worth $300K or $400K? As a big heap of lumber when it collapses, worth what? $20,000 in historic reclaimed lumber? 

[Pattmost20]

9 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

A building of that size on Wealthy Street has got to be worth $300K or $400K? As a big heap of lumber when it collapses, worth what? $20,000 in historic reclaimed lumber? 

Well they wanted $2800 per month for each floor. Funny, they show an intact building in the listing.