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Wealthy Street Mega Thread

joshleo

By joshleo
in Grand Rapids

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terra firma
terra firma

Joe,  watch 701 Wealthy (ex: Royals) for some movement pretty quickly here -- as of today have a Lease in place with Good Truckin' Cafe, an established 6-store operator (started as a food truck, now a

terra firma
terra firma

We try pretty hard to keep things positive and are always excited about growth in our market, whether its "us" or the other guy.     We are big fans of the Wealthy St. retail market area and we celebr

terra firma
terra firma

@ GR Urbanist-- yes we are busy cleaning that fire mess up as we simultaneously are rebuilding 650 Wealthy next to it  (Dime& Regal, Palace Flophouse)  from damage related to the fire.   We'd have

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highwayguy Whistle-Stop

highwayguy

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So nice to have Wealthy Street open between Eastern and Union!

The asphalt driving lanes are 11ft wide with 9ft parking lanes.

1172880495_c099c82269.jpg

I wonder why they didn't just do the whole thing in concrete? Maybe this is so it would be easier to go back and put brick in later if funding became available? Or maybe it was done to match the design of the blocks to the east (minus the brick)? Or maybe it's just to save some cost? Anyone know?

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gvsusean Burg

gvsusean

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I wonder why they didn't just do the whole thing in concrete? Maybe this is so it would be easier to go back and put brick in later if funding became available? Or maybe it was done to match the design of the blocks to the east (minus the brick)? Or maybe it's just to save some cost? Anyone know?

maybe to seperate parking from driving areas?

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GRGridGirl Hamlet

GRGridGirl

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I wonder why they didn't just do the whole thing in concrete? Maybe this is so it would be easier to go back and put brick in later if funding became available? Or maybe it was done to match the design of the blocks to the east (minus the brick)? Or maybe it's just to save some cost? Anyone know?

It would be easier to go back and place brick, but I don't see public funds paying for it. Those darn City street engineers in the 70's decided not only to widen the street, but to take the brick out instead of placing asphalt over it, like so many other streets in GR. That pretty much eliminated brick going back in. We all know that when asphalt fades, the brick stays.

With the narrowing of the street, it's a good idea to differentiate between the parking & driving lanes. We're talking about a reduction of 10-15 feet of street width. Where did all that space go? Street parking lanes at 9ft and the parkway is now 12ft between the curb to the zero setback buildings, an increase of 7-9 ft in some sections!

Since Wealthy Street is TBD zoning, the added parkway allows for more sidewalk cafe seating & it's a lot more accessible too. The curb-bulb-out's that are on every opposite corner create safe crosswalks. By design, traffic will slow down which will increase business & it'll no longer be as scary to cross the street.

I'm very excited for the ornamental lighting and other streetscape amenities to be installed. Whoop, whoop for Wealthy Street!

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highwayguy Whistle-Stop

highwayguy

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It would be easier to go back and place brick, but I don't see public funds paying for it. Those darn City street engineers in the 70's decided not only to widen the street, but to take the brick out instead of placing asphalt over it, like so many other streets in GR. That pretty much eliminated brick going back in. We all know that when asphalt fades, the brick stays.

With the narrowing of the street, it's a good idea to differentiate between the parking & driving lanes. We're talking about a reduction of 10-15 feet of street width. Where did all that space go? Street parking lanes at 9ft and the parkway is now 12ft between the curb to the zero setback buildings, an increase of 7-9 ft in some sections!

Since Wealthy Street is TBD zoning, the added parkway allows for more sidewalk cafe seating & it's a lot more accessible too. The curb-bulb-out's that are on every opposite corner create safe crosswalks. By design, traffic will slow down which will increase business & it'll no longer be as scary to cross the street.

I'm very excited for the ornamental lighting and other streetscape amenities to be installed. Whoop, whoop for Wealthy Street!

It would be really nice to have the brick, but it's hard to blame the engineers of 30+ years ago for removing them. I'm sure they never imagined that we would want to bring back brick streets in the future, let alone reuse the old bricks to do it.

I'm glad to see they narrowed the street and put in bulb-outs. Highways should be wide, city streets should not. The differentiation between the asphalt and concrete will become less drastic as the asphalt gets lighter and the concrete gets darker, but there will still be some differentiation. And I suppose the asphalt will generate less tire noise than concrete (and much less than brick). But, it won't last as long as concrete would have. Lets hope they built it well and it doesn't need crack sealing or patching for a long time.

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bearmanor man Unincorporated Area

bearmanor man

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Have you guys heard about the new coffee shop going in over here? The owners (recent Kendal grads) just secured the space. Its the pink building that "girls with style" used to be in- I think its around 1039 wealthy or so. Its going to be called "The Stray Dog". Its going be be the closest thing to the rebirth of Socrates that we can hope for- news stand, coffee shop, hip folks, various forms of artsy-ness. I think it will create great synergy with the Meanwhile Bar. Another place to hang out in the Wealthy Theater district, helping to define it as an arts and entertainment district. Keep an eye on it!

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Rhino6885 Hamlet

Rhino6885

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Have you guys heard about the new coffee shop going in over here? The owners (recent Kendal grads) just secured the space. Its the pink building that "girls with style" used to be in- I think its around 1039 wealthy or so. Its going to be called "The Stray Dog". Its going be be the closest thing to the rebirth of Socrates that we can hope for- news stand, coffee shop, hip folks, various forms of artsy-ness. I think it will create great synergy with the Meanwhile Bar. Another place to hang out in the Wealthy Theater district, helping to define it as an arts and entertainment district. Keep an eye on it!

SWEET! Score one for Bearmanor! Any news on your other properties over there? (you do own that building, correct?) On a related note, I spoke with the owner of the Wealthy Laundromat this weekend. He's losing his business to the bank. His machines will be auctioned off in a couple of weeks, and the building will hit the market soon. It has a very cool patio area that would make a very cool restaurant.

Now, if somebody would just improve that old Eva's Ice Cream and the burned out house across the street....

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GR Jackson Hamlet

GR Jackson

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SWEET! Score one for Bearmanor! Any news on your other properties over there? (you do own that building, correct?) On a related note, I spoke with the owner of the Wealthy Laundromat this weekend. He's losing his business to the bank. His machines will be auctioned off in a couple of weeks, and the building will hit the market soon. It has a very cool patio area that would make a very cool restaurant.

Now, if somebody would just improve that old Eva's Ice Cream and the burned out house across the street....

While we don't own the building, we are very excited to see a business open there. There is a synergy in this business, and any business that is good for the neighborhood or any improvements to properties that people make are great. If the neighborhood is healthy then we all profit.

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bearmanor man Unincorporated Area

bearmanor man

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SWEET! Score one for Bearmanor! Any news on your other properties over there? (you do own that building, correct?) On a related note, I spoke with the owner of the Wealthy Laundromat this weekend. He's losing his business to the bank. His machine

http://www.urbanplanet.org/s will be auctioned off in a couple of weeks, and the building will hit the market soon. It has a very cool patio area that would make a very cool restaurant.

Now, if somebody would just improve that old Eva's Ice Cream and the burned out house across the street....

That's too bad about the laundry mat, he's a nice guy. I would love to a see a restaurant there, though... I know that parcel could be key in improving the little section of caulkins street there. Hopefully somebody community minded buys it. How much are they asking?

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GR Jackson Hamlet

GR Jackson

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Posted (edited)

Sorry for more shameless promotion here, but in front of the houses that we are doing on wealthy mentioned earlier in a thread there is something exciting going on. We partnered with a professor from calvin college to do native plantings there. A class came by and helped plant one bed, and their enviornmental stewardship council plans on coming to plant some more soon. It will look great next spring.

Edited by GR Jackson
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Avocado Whistle-Stop

Avocado

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Sorry for more shameless promotion here, but in front of the houses that we are doing on wealthy mentioned earlier in a thread there is something exciting going on. We partnered with a professor from calvin college to do native plantings there. A class came by and helped plant one bed, and their enviornmental stewardship council plans on coming to plant some more soon. It will look great next spring.

Are these the Bear Manor properties near Jamaican Dave's?

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uncus Whistle-Stop

uncus

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That's too bad about the laundry mat, he's a nice guy. I would love to a see a restaurant there, though... I know that parcel could be key in improving the little section of caulkins street there. Hopefully somebody community minded buys it. How much are they asking?

Wouldn't be nice if they could just take the old place down and start over. Ok, so if that isn't an option how do you transform a old mcdonalds into something that blends with the neighborhood?

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