221 replies to this topic

[Quercus]

I like the renderings, especially the rooftop greenhouses. I'm happy they're concentrating most of the parking on the west side (US 131) of the site, though I'm not sure how I feel about the small lot underneath the Wealthy Street overpass. I imagine much of the walking traffic will be from the north / Ionia and Heartside Park is adjacent to the proposed lot; seems like a better connection could be made between those land uses. Also, between street parking and nearby parking facilities (Commerce & Cherry garage, arena lots, Diocese lots and garage) I think a parking plan will be easy to create. And encouraging folks to park and walk through Heartside will be great for the neighborhood. Heck, if it were up to me I'd trim a little more parking from the site plan.

On a different note, it's too bad the billboards will remain on site!

[andrew.w]

Quercus, on 29 September 2011 - 07:28 AM, said:

I like the renderings, especially the rooftop greenhouses. I'm happy they're concentrating most of the parking on the west side (US 131) of the site, though I'm not sure how I feel about the small lot underneath the Wealthy Street overpass. I imagine much of the walking traffic will be from the north / Ionia and Heartside Park is adjacent to the proposed lot; seems like a better connection could be made between those land uses. Also, between street parking and nearby parking facilities (Commerce & Cherry garage, arena lots, Diocese lots and garage) I think a parking plan will be easy to create. And encouraging folks to park and walk through Heartside will be great for the neighborhood. Heck, if it were up to me I'd trim a little more parking from the site plan.

Unless they plan on making the vendors park somewhere else, a good portion of that parking will be used by the vendors who have just trucked in produce or other goods.  In Ann Arbor and Detroit's Eastern Market anyways, the vendors usually back into one of the spots around the shed, and set up their table right off the back of their vehicle.

[GRDadof3]

I gotta believe there's enough on-street parking in that area to accommodate market visitors. Especially on weekends when most of those businesses in the area (the few there are) aren't running.

http://www.bing.com/...y=b&form=LMLTCC

What I don't know is how pedestrian friendly is the crossing over 131 from the ITP station.  Biking it, I know it's pretty crappy.  The Wealthy overpass is supposed to be rebuilt, maybe that can be timed with the market opening?

[dbrock1046]

Loving the plans and the location. On the other hand that Wealthy overpass is beyond bad. It definitely has out lived it usefulness. Is there a time table for rebuilding it?

[andrew.w]

Speaking of parking, what's going on with the 5 accessible parking spaces with no access aisles between them?  Maybe this plan is still more conceptual, but something like that should be considered a given.

It's not required, but their really should also be a ramp from the market shed up to the main entrance, rather than forcing people to go all the way down to the end of the terrace to get from one to the other.

Edited by andrew.w, 01 October 2011 - 04:06 PM.

[GRDadof3]

dbrock1046, on 01 October 2011 - 02:20 PM, said:

Loving the plans and the location. On the other hand that Wealthy overpass is beyond bad. It definitely has out lived it usefulness. Is there a time table for rebuilding it?

I guess it's on MDOT's radar, but it's "complicated."

[joeDowntown]

$4.7 million tax break for the urban market:

http://michiganradio...-tax-incentives

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Demo started for the urban market:

[SupercityGR]

Its gonna be fun to see this slowly take shape!

[joeDowntown]

Yeah, the dust is really flying today. I can see a plume of dust from my office and a lot of trucks getting loaded up with debris.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

They're definitely making quick time with the demolition. I wonder when the construction will actually begin? Are all the ducks in a row on the urban market? (I don't know).

[mpchicago]

GRDadof3, on 31 January 2012 - 07:44 AM, said:

They're definitely making quick time with the demolition. I wonder when the construction will actually begin? Are all the ducks in a row on the urban market? (I don't know).

I think they are still trying to wrap up fund raising.

From the Grand Rapids Press 1/17/2012:

“This funding is a significant boost to the project and will allow our private fund raising effort to focus exclusively on building the market rather than cleaning up the site,” said Jon Nunn, executive director of Grand Action, the non-profit group that has been pushing for the re-development of the site since March 2010.

Grand Action officials said they are working to identify “additional financing opportunities and develop a proposed construction timeline.”

[jdkacz]

I wonder when they will take this to the public? IE - pay $50 for a brick with your name on it. I like the buzz going on south of downtown.

[fotoman311]

jdkacz, on 01 February 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

I wonder when they will take this to the public? IE - pay $50 for a brick with your name on it. I like the buzz going on south of downtown.

They'd need to sell far too many bricks to put a dent in $29 million.  I doubt we'll see a public campaign for this market that doesn't exist yet and doesn't have an existing constituency to target.

[SupercityGR]

From what i understand there close to the 29 million already. Im sure some good public donations can push them across the finish line.

[GRDadof3]

Should probably move these posts to here.  More demo:

[wingbert]

St. Lawrence Market in Toronto is a blast.  It's great to see something similar taking shape here.
http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/

[Veloise]

The mild winter is helping this project along.
http://www.mlive.com..._market_si.html

[GRDadof3]

Veloise, on 04 February 2012 - 08:48 AM, said:

The mild winter is helping this project along.
http://www.mlive.com..._market_si.html

It sounds like they're going to jump right from demolition to foundation work. Sweet.

[Quercus]

One of the agenda items for tomorrow's DDA meeting is an update on the urban market. The ePacket (pdf) contains a preliminary design of streetscape improvements around the market to be completed by the spring of 2013. The urban market is expected to be completed mid-year 2013.

Edited by Quercus, 07 February 2012 - 12:07 PM.