Downtown Amphitheater

[Cookin_peacocks]

Demo update

[joeDowntown]

@whitemice has a really good breakdown of the costs, taxes incentives/tax capture, etc. for the new amphitheater and soccer stadium (plus residential developments). It’s a really good read:

https://urbangr.org/AmphitheaterStadiumSummary202405

[GRDadof3]

There are some pretty detailed renderings of the amphitheater on Grand Action's website. I guess I hadn't seen these before (surprisingly). It's interesting the detail they're starting to add to the surroundings.  Can't wait to see Hall & Oates there. 

 

 

 

 

ALLLLL the semi trucks. 

And that pedestrian plaza right at the 131 exit ramp? I can see 131 getting pretty backed up...  They'd be better off coordinating with MDOT and closing that ramp on concert nights.

 

[Cookin_peacocks]

Boring update 

[SupercityGR]

Wouldn't the amphitheater be lower than the rivers water level?

[joeDowntown]

2 hours ago, SupercityGR said:

Wouldn't the amphitheater be lower than the rivers water level?

I think with the height of the flood wall and the fact they'll be berming up the lawn area, I'm not sure the front row / bandstand will be much lower than the surface lot today. I could be wrong, but that's how I imagined it.

[joeDowntown]

I like this “street view” rendering they release yesterday. The amphitheater roof is going to look pretty nice!

 

[Zads]

Here's the article from Crain's surrounding the groundbreaking

Paywall: https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/economic-development/184m-grand-rapids-riverfront-amphitheater-breaks-ground/

Just a note in this piece from Acrisure: 

"Acrisure CEO Greg Williams said during today’s groundbreaking that the company’s rapid success comes with a responsibility to give back. That includes the company’s $30 million donation last year that secured naming rights at the venue.

That community involvement also has generated interest and excitement from the company’s employees, Williams added. “This won’t be the last thing we do in the community, and as the community has been good to us, we need to be good to it,” Williams said."

"The venue is expected to include 6,000 fixed seats and lawn seating for another 6,000 people. Site plans also call for public green space on the back hill of the amphitheater. The venue is expected to host 54 concerts a season, drawing 300,000 attendees. "

[joeDowntown]

Some of the building facts are eyepopping. The canopy weighs ~40% the weight of the Eiffel tower?! The amount of sand is impressive too. 

"He said $6 million of the construction budget will go to local minority-owned, woman-owned or micro locally-owned businesses in the area. The project, which includes what Schowalter described as an “iconic” canopy structure, will use 3,130 tons of structural steel. For comparison, Schowalter said the Eiffel Tower has around 7,000 tons of steel.

It will also use 9,720 cubic yards parts of concrete, 436 tons of reinforcing steel in the concrete and 150,000 cubic yards of sand, or about 3,750 truck trains worth of sand."

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/officials-to-break-ground-on-acrisure-amphitheater/

[RiversideGR]

This is an interesting angle. Is it just me, or does this rendering seem to have more design elements that coordinate with the soccer stadium rendering?

 

 

[Khorasaurus1]

1 hour ago, RiversideGR said:

This is an interesting angle. Is it just me, or does this rendering seem to have more design elements that coordinate with the soccer stadium rendering?

 

 

This is going to look super cool along the river.  If the high rises discussed north and south of it get built, the view from the Pearl Street bridge looking south could be a better glamour shot than the one from Ah-Nab-A-Wen.

Where is the walkway on the right hand side going? Under 131 and then along the river to Fulton?

[whitemice]

17 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

a better glamour shot than the one from Ah-Nab-A-Wen.

If it all gets built I want a shot from the top floor of the residential tower north of the stadium towards the amphitheater.  That's going to have a really nice Chicago vibe.

17 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

Where is the walkway on the right hand side going? Under 131 and then along the river to Fulton?

It goes to the riverside path.  I have never found a diagram of what happens to that path either south of the railroad or when it reaches US-131.  That integration still seems undefined.

[cstonesparty]

5 minutes ago, whitemice said:

It goes to the riverside path.  I have never found a diagram of what happens to that path either south of the railroad or when it reaches US-131.  That integration still seems undefined.

there was one image that also included a ribbon-shaped pedestrian bridge across the river from that general area too.  

[Khorasaurus1]

3 hours ago, whitemice said:

If it all gets built I want a shot from the top floor of the residential tower north of the stadium towards the amphitheater.  That's going to have a really nice Chicago vibe.

 

Make it the roof of Bridgewater for even more high rises and bridges in the view. 

[kwl]

I’m so stoked to chug $35 beers at this place. 

[Cookin_peacocks]

The old napa building is gone today 

[Jonesey]

3 hours ago, kwl said:

I’m so stoked to chug $35 beers at this place. 

pre-game in the river bro

[Pattmost20]

16 hours ago, kwl said:

I’m so stoked to chug $35 beers at this place. 

It is so frustrating that we have a real world example of a pro stadium lowering concession prices while increasing revenue, and yet no other stadium or arena will follow suite. Atlanta built a state of the art $1.6 billion stadium for NFL and MLS and lowered concession prices across the board. $2 hot dogs, $5 burgers, $7-8 craft beer, and they saw revenues spike. I'll happily spend $15-20 on 2 or 3 beers. I won't spend a dime if that is the price of 1 beer.

At one of the Soccer Stadium focus groups I told the representatives to look into Atlanta's success in raising revenues. I really hope they take it seriously, otherwise people will pregame concerts like they do at VanAndel and 20 Monroe. 

[Cookin_peacocks]

I went and saw The Chats at the house of Blues in Chicago two years ago. I bought two beers for me and a friend, and one for my other friend who went with us. I walked away paying 125.00 

[cstonesparty]

2 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

It is so frustrating that we have a real world example of a pro stadium lowering concession prices while increasing revenue, and yet no other stadium or arena will follow suite. Atlanta built a state of the art $1.6 billion stadium for NFL and MLS and lowered concession prices across the board. $2 hot dogs, $5 burgers, $7-8 craft beer, and they saw revenues spike. I'll happily spend $15-20 on 2 or 3 beers. I won't spend a dime if that is the price of 1 beer.

At one of the Soccer Stadium focus groups I told the representatives to look into Atlanta's success in raising revenues. I really hope they take it seriously, otherwise people will pregame concerts like they do at VanAndel and 20 Monroe. 

I've been at Whitecaps/Griffins games when they do things like dollar dog night and the volume is insane...  Seems like the data is there to study impact of price level on volume of orders.

[GR_Urbanist]

2 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

It is so frustrating that we have a real world example of a pro stadium lowering concession prices while increasing revenue, and yet no other stadium or arena will follow suite. Atlanta built a state of the art $1.6 billion stadium for NFL and MLS and lowered concession prices across the board. $2 hot dogs, $5 burgers, $7-8 craft beer, and they saw revenues spike. I'll happily spend $15-20 on 2 or 3 beers. I won't spend a dime if that is the price of 1 beer.

At one of the Soccer Stadium focus groups I told the representatives to look into Atlanta's success in raising revenues. I really hope they take it seriously, otherwise people will pregame concerts like they do at VanAndel and 20 Monroe. 

The 1.50 hotdog is literally a part of Costco's public image, with even the CEO making it clear that the prices are to remain that no matter what. They even manufacture them themselves to ensure the price remains the same.

[GRDadof3]

On 5/22/2024 at 12:03 PM, RiversideGR said:

This is an interesting angle. Is it just me, or does this rendering seem to have more design elements that coordinate with the soccer stadium rendering?

 

 

Yeah, the renderings keep getting better and better. Let's hope the final product doesn't get value engineered (too much). 

[Cookin_peacocks]

[Jonesey]

So apparently the salt shed is going to stay until next spring, shouldn't be too huge of a deal as most of that area will just be park/walkway from what I can tell.   They also mentioned "construction" won't begin until four months from now?  Is that accurate?  That turns a 24 month deadline into 20, which seems unlikely

[GRDadof3]

On 5/30/2024 at 6:37 PM, Jonesey said:

So apparently the salt shed is going to stay until next spring, shouldn't be too huge of a deal as most of that area will just be park/walkway from what I can tell.   They also mentioned "construction" won't begin until four months from now?  Is that accurate?  That turns a 24 month deadline into 20, which seems unlikely

Maybe they mean actual building construction? It seems to me there's going to be a massive amount of site work to do, including hauling in a ton of fill to build up the site and green areas.