84 replies to this topic

[GRDadof3]

sfloria, on 25 May 2012 - 12:36 PM, said:

Removing the city property off the river and someday getting the post office off the river would really help create a more pleasureable experience along the river.  Especially if the rapids come back, it could really become a destination area.  I could image GVSU or housing would be a nice infill in that area with some park land along the river.  Maybe even a grocery store!!!

That 16 acres actually would be best marketed as a manufacturing site. It'd provide hundreds if not thousands of medium skilled jobs that could be filled by all the people living in poverty in the area surrounding it, and it's well served by transit (unlike all the manufacturing plants out by the airport). How about a plethora of medical manufacturers, R&D, etc.. (Perrigo, Amway anyone?)

[gvsusean]

GRDadof3, on 25 May 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

That 16 acres actually would be best marketed as a manufacturing site. It'd provide hundreds if not thousands of medium skilled jobs that could be filled by all the people living in poverty in the area surrounding it, and it's well served by transit (unlike all the manufacturing plants out by the airport). How about a plethora of medical manufacturers, R&D, etc.. (Perrigo, Amway anyone?)

It's one of the one-in-a-thousand post's of Dads that i dont agree with...  Exciting when I see these

Edited by gvsusean, 25 May 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[GRDadof3]

gvsusean, on 25 May 2012 - 06:06 PM, said:

It's one of the one-in-a-thousand post's of Dads that i dont agree with...  Exciting when I see these

What??

Hear me out. The parcel is pretty far removed from the downtown core. Picture a manufacturing park filled with "advanced manufacturing" facilities, like medical devices, pharmaceuticals, R&D, etc. in a park-like campus setting (think research triangle park but more urban). Walkways along the river. Maybe a small retail center mixed in. It would then CREATE tax revenue that would help save the parks and greenspace and bike lanes and other things in the city that everyone is crying about losing. It would also help the nearly 40% of people in the city living in poverty right now with JOBS, which would give them disposable income for retail and housing in other parts of the city.

16 acres of housing and retail would take 30 years to build out, if ever, and would not create nearly the tax revenue. Another GVSU campus would basically be property tax free (State institution), and students would pay no or very little income tax. It might look cool in 30 years but doesn't make the city more sustainable.

[tSlater]

I agree with GRDad.  A city cannot live on retail and housing alone.  Grand Rapids has been bleeding industry ever since the Great Depression, I'd imagine, and really needs to focus on having some newer, high-tech industry cores somewhere.  The location is a good one for it, as long as it's designed right to fit into an urban near-park setting that isn't hostile to pedestrians as industrial areas were in the past.

[Raildudes dad]

tSlater, on 26 May 2012 - 04:48 PM, said:

I agree with GRDad.  A city cannot live on retail and housing alone.  Grand Rapids has been bleeding industry ever since the Great Depression, I'd imagine, and really needs to focus on having some newer, high-tech industry cores somewhere.  The location is a good one for it, as long as it's designed right to fit into an urban near-park setting that isn't hostile to pedestrians as industrial areas were in the past.

Not true Tony. The GM 36th Street Stamping was built during the depression, the Alpine and Burlingame GM plants were added later. Kelvinator made refrigerators here. There was a whole host of manufacturing and related shops. The 50's and 60's were booming here.  It wasn't until jobs started going to Mexico and then China that industry declined in GR.